The Caribbean Premier League says its players, officials and administrators have arrived in Trinidad and Tobago and that 162 people who traveled into the country have tested negative for COVID-19.
The CPL said the teams will now be kept in quarantine in the official hotel for 14 days and undergo regular testing. If anyone from in the group is found to have contracted the coronavirus they will be removed from the hotel and placed in further isolation.
“It has been a colossal effort by all involved to get everyone safely into Trinidad and Tobago," tournament operations director Michael Hall said in a statement. “Our main priority is the health and well-being of all those involved in CPL and the wider population in the host country, to have got through this first step without any cases is encouraging news, but we will remain vigilant.”
West Indies' Shane Dowrich evades a rising delivery from England's Jofra Archer during the fifth day of the third cricket Test match between England and West Indies at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, Tuesday, July 28, 2020. (Martin RickettPool via AP)
Players, coaches and support staff have traveled to the Caribbean from all parts of the cricket world.
The West Indies team lost a three-test series in England last month, the first international cricket to be played after the sport was shuttered globally. The Caribbean players had to spend time in quarantine in Britain before the series started, and had to remain inside so-called bio-secure bubbles at match venues.
The Twenty20 tournament begins Aug. 18, and 33 games will be played at two venues in Trinidad. The first match has last year’s runners-up, the Guyana Amazon Warriors, playing the Trinbago Knight Riders. The final will take place on Sept. 10.
Barbados Tridents are the defending champions. The other teams are St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots, St. Lucia Zouks and Jamaica Tallawahs.
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