Lenient bubble protocol during India-SA series
MUMBAI: There will be no lookout for close contact of Covid positives in the India-South Africa series. Anyone testing positive and is clinically stable will be allowed to isolate inside the team bubble. These are some of the recommendations from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) based on which Cricket South Africa (CSA) have created an SOP for the tour.
BCCI’s reaction was different in September when the final Test against England at The Oval was called off on India players’ insistence amid fears that Covid could spread in their change room after three in the coaching staff and a physio had tested positive.
“The world is changing. Many sports are operating that way. You are not isolating and quarantining close contacts anymore. Life remains normal and you continue to test. If there is a positive case, that person will be isolated for 10 days, monitored remotely before being retested,” said Dr Shuaib Manjra, Chief Medical Officer, CSA. “With close contacts, we often don’t know. If the entire team is in the dining room or the team room and there is a positive, it’s difficult to identify who is a close contact and who is not. This is a subjective element. In a sense, India have learnt their lesson and they recommended that we don’t look for close contacts, test the entire team every day. We agreed. It would allow the tour to continue and we don’t lock up too many people,” he said.
Last year, England called off their tour after positive cases were reported in both the team bubbles in Cape Town. “England had come with unrealistic expectations, coming from their experience of a vacuum sealed environment. They had come with an expectation that there would be zero positive cases,” said Dr Manjra. “Even England have realised that both from a financial and mental point of view, it is just unsustainable. That’s why when India went to England this year they went away even from a complete biosecure environment (BSE). You still had positive cases. People now understand that positive cases are a reality of life. It’s just how you deal and manage them, in a responsible way.”
India’s tour begins with the Centurion Test match on Sunday with the next Test in Johannesburg. India are at a resort in Gauteng and will be there for the
India have learnt their lesson, they recommended that we don’t look for close contacts, test the full team every day. We agreed DR SHUAIB MANJRA,
first two Tests. The India team and match-officials along with staff are the only ones at the hotel. After being tested for a fortnight, the hotel staff stayed in one week before Virat Kohli’s team checked in. Like in most bio-secure bubbles, this too includes the team coach drivers.
When the tour moves to Cape Town for the third Test and the limited overs matches in Paarl, India will stay in a hotel with guests. But the team will be blocked off from the rest of the guests with provisions for a separate restaurant. “We have regular testing and six hours turnaround time on results. India has insisted on RT-PCR testing which has also been addressed. Only vaccinated people are inside the BSE. It’s similar to what’s operational all around the world,” said Dr Manjra.
The tour is going ahead even as South Africa deals with the highly contagious Omicron variant of Covid-19. CSA’s medical officer though said studies have shown sudden upswing in cases has been followed by an equally swift dip in numbers.
The successful completion of India’s A recent tour of South Africa gave the boards the confidence to go ahead. But around the same time last month, Netherlands chose not to complete their limited overs tour of South Africa. “Quite frankly, the BSE protocols were similar. It had more to do with panic within their team if their country would close borders and that they would have to undergo 14 days of quarantine when they went back,” said Dr Manjra.
To address such an eventuality, India has the option to return home at any stage. “That’s just an option open to India. We hope that doesn’t happen,” he said. “We are in level 1 lockdown which means the country hasn’t even been closed down extensively. So, there is no intention to close down borders.”
The matches will have no crowd.
CSA