7th Pakistan Cricketer Positive for COVID-19

The seventh Pakistan cricketer tested positive for Covid-19 as the team remained confined to their hotel in Christchurch on Saturday, unable to practice with a question mark on their New Zealand tour.

Pakistanis, who arrived just four days ago, are already under "final warning" for violating New Zealand's tight quarantine restrictions, with a rising number of coronavirus cases placing pressure on the preparations for their opening match on 18 December, reports AFP.

Despite all members of the squad returning negative tests before flying to New Zealand, six came up positive after testing on day one in the country.

“One additional member of the Pakistan cricket squad has today tested positive,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Saturday, confirming the seventh patient.

“The remainder of the results from the squad’s day-three swab testing, apart from the six who have already returned a positive result, are negative.”

All foreign arrivals in New Zealand must spend two weeks in quarantine.

The 53-man squad will undergo further tests on Monday and in the meantime, they remain confined to their rooms after they have been permitted to practice as the New Zealand authorities have been revoked in isolation.

The Ministry said that exemptions allowing teams to practice while in controlled isolation "are very difficult to obtain" and Pakistan's exemption was suspended after several players had been found flouting social distance protocols inside the quarantine hotel.

New Zealand's Director-General for Health, Ashley Bloomfield, said Thursday that violations of the laws had been taken very seriously and that the Pakistan team "was issued a final warning as a whole."