Health concerns in England camp will have no immediate effect on touring party
The Indian squad on tour in the UK will be receiving their second round of the Covid-19 vaccine on July 7 and 9. While this is in accordance with long-planned BCCI countermeasures to keep their players safe, it assumes greater significance given the developments in the England team.
“Obviously, ECB and the local health authorities will provide us with any change in existing health safety protocols and that will be strictly followed,” a senior BCCI official told PTI. “But we haven’t been told anything as of now. The players have not yet been told to cut short their downtime.”
“Most of the players are in and around London. All this was planned well in advance. All those who have had Covishield as their first jabs in India are now ready to get their second doses,” a senior BCCI source was quoted as saying by PTI.
Should everything go as planned, India’s players may enjoy greater freedoms when it comes to quarantine. The UK government is working towards reducing Covid-19 restrictions and from August 16 – the first day of the second Test – double-vaccinated people may be exempt from self-isolating even if they come in contact with a carrier of the virus.
“I think it’s important we work closely with BCCI. We’re all hopeful that as this summer moves forward we will be able to reduce the restrictions around the teams and one of the important things around that is getting everyone double vaccinated then we should be able to enjoy more freedoms.
“We’ve got a group of very young, fit people many of whom will be asymptomatic even if they catch this. I think I heard to government talk about treating this as flu eventually and we’re gonna get to that stage. At the moment we’re operating at odds with that, it’s tough to manage but we’re doing the best possible job we can with it.”