The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed on Wednesday that they had conducted 702 tests all through this month and fortunately all the reports came out negative. ECB released a statement saying they had conducted the tests on players, support staff, match officials and employees of the board between from June 3 to 23. Not a single person tested positive for Covid-19.
“The England & Wales Cricket Board can confirm that 702 COVID-19 tests were carried out between 3 June and 23 June with several stakeholder groups working at the bio-secure venues of the Ageas Bowl and Emirates Old Trafford.
“These groups include players, support staff, match officials, ECB staff, venue staff and hotel staff. We can confirm that all 702 tests were negative,” the ECB confirmed.
England is now getting ready to host the West Indies for a series of 3 Tests next month, which will be the first international cricket series since the sport went into a forced shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. England pacer Jofra Archer will join the squad late after he underwent a precautionary test for COVID-19 when a member of his household felt unwell last weekend.
Archer was supposed to link up with the England team, who are going into isolation head of their test series against West Indies, in Southampton on Tuesday.
“Archer, and members of his household, have tested negative for COVID-19,” the ECB said. “He will have a second test tomorrow (Wednesday), and if he tests negative, he will join up with the training group on Thursday.”
The first Test starts in Southampton on July 8 and Archer said on Monday that he was fit and ready for the three-match series after battling an elbow injury.
Manchester will host the last two Tests of the series, which will be played behind closed doors in a bio-secure environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
