A total of 10 members of the 53-member touring party have now tested positive. (File Photo/PCB)Three more members of the touring Pakistan squad have tested positive for COVID-19 in New Zealand, taking the total number of cases in the team to 10.
The 53-member unit arrived in New Zealand last month. Pakistan’s players and staff are completing a fortnight in isolation, as is compulsory on arrival in New Zealand, in a Christchurch hotel.
The team have not received permission to leave their hotel to train in light of the cases.
On Monday, the 46 members of the squad to have previously tested negative to Covid-19 were re-tested, according to news agency AAP.
Health authorities said 42 returned another negative test result but three were under investigation “to determine whether they are historical cases” – and therefore not infectious – and one result was pending.
A New Zealand health ministry spokesperson said that the team is not allowed to train until the Canterbury DHB medical officer of health determines they are satisfied that any training activities are unlikely to transmit COVID-19, according to Geo.tv.
New Zealand’s director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield had also slammed Pakistan for not respective the guidelines set by the authorities.
“Rather than being in their own rooms, which is a requirement for the first three days, there was some mingling in the hallways, chatting, sharing food and not wearing masks,” Dr Ashley Bloomfield, the country’s director-general of health, had told RNZ, New Zealand’s public-service radio broadcaster.
Pakistan’s tour is set to begin with a T20I at Eden Park on December 18.