Bangladesh bid to protect players
THE Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) said last Thursday (28) it wouldl vaccinate hundreds of players against the coronavirus by the end of February in a bid to restart domestic tournaments.
Apart from two small events last year and the current tour by the West Indies – which were held in strict bio-bubbles – all play has been suspended since March.
The board has ruled out resuming cricket at all levels until all players are vaccinated.
The jabs will be given to the top 500 players as part of the new campaign, officials said.
The BCB did not spell out how it would get the vaccines. But board president Nazmul Hasan Papon is also chief executive of Beximco Pharmaceuticals, which has signed a deal to procure 30 million vaccine doses from India for the Bangladesh government.
Beximco said it also plans to buy vaccines to sell on the open market.
Bangladesh last week received two million vaccine doses from India and launched an anti-coronavirus drive last Wednesday (27) with 27 people, including nurses and doctors, receiving the first available vaccines. Authorities have said a wider inoculation programme will start from Sunday (7).
Bangladesh has recorded 533,000 Covid cases and more than 8,000 deaths from the virus so far.