All South Africa players on India tour tested negative for Coronavirus

After knocking down the mighty Australia team 3-0 in the ODI series at home, South Africa would have thought of getting their mojo back. Under their new captain Quinton de Kock, the side had arrived in India last month with high hopes. However, the first ODI got abandoned due to rain in Dharamsala. After that, the subsequent two matches were supposed to be played behind the closed door. But the outbreak of Coronavirus was getting serious with every passing day.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) mutually decided to call off the series. The South African players were stuck in Lucknow for a while before finally returning home. On their return, the entire squad and the support staff were told to stay in self-isolation for the last two weeks.

All players are symptom-free, confirms CSA Chief Medical Officer

During this period, the medical team of CSA were assigned to look after the player for any symptoms. Finally, on Thursday it was confirmed that no player from the squad on the tour got affected with COVID-19. Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) chief medical officer Shuaib Manjra confirmed that no player from the squad was found positive for the coronavirus.

“During this period, we continued to monitor the players for symptoms and signs of the disease. Thankfully, all the players were symptom-free and those who opted to perform the test returned negative results, he was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

He also informed that players can now leave their isolation but might have to continue staying at their homes due to lockdown which has been imposed by the South African government amidst the spread of coronavirus. “We consider all the players out of the quarantine period, but they remain under government directives during the lockdown period”, Manjra added. There have been 1,462 registered cases of patients affected from COVID-19 in South Africa. As many as five people have lost their lives due to the pandemic.

The South African team doesn’t have any international match until June. Some proteas players were supposed to participate in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after which, they were scheduled to play a series in Sri Lanka. There are clouds of uncertainty regarding that series with several countries shutting its borders for foreign visitors.