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The Cricket South Africa (CSA) revised the bio bubble norms for the India tour scheduled to start from December 26 at the Centurion. Holding the tour became uncertain after the new variant of Covid-19 virus – Omicron – recently emerged in South Africa and this compelled the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to reschedule the tour.
Later, the Indian cricket board decided to go on with the tour and also continued their unofficial Tests against South Africa A side. CSA changed their norms for the bio bubble and now the immediate contacts of people testing positive for Covid-19 will not need to isolate. The close contacts will be given permission for training and those testing positive will be in quarantine in the same hotel until they are tested clinically stable.
“Considering that all those within the ecosystem will be vaccinated, the positive case will isolate within the hotel room if clinically stable. Contacts will continue playing and training with non-medical interventions strictly observed, and tested daily,” CSA’s chief medical officer Shuaib Manjra was quoted while talking to ESPNcricinfo.
“Whilst at the end of the third wave we considered moving from a strict Bio-secure Environment (BSE) to a managed environment, the Omicron variant and high levels of community transmission have forced a strict BSE,” Manjra added.
Omircron scare
Initially, CSA had come up with relaxed Covid-19 norms. But the norms had to be modified after the advent of the new Omicron variant. The CSA had previously also ensured BCCI of creating a safe bio bubble for Indian members coming to play matches.
"Immediate contacts of anyone testing positive for Covid-19 in the bubble during the South Africa-India series will not need to isolate and leave the bubble, rather will be allowed to quarantine in the hotel room as long as they are clinically stable," CSA said.
"These are part of the 'strict' norms for the BSE put in place by Cricket South Africa in coordination with BCCI as the Indian contingent is set to arrive in Johannesburg later this week," the CSA added.
India is scheduled to tour South Africa for three Tests and as many ODIs. The Test series will commence on December 26 in Centurion. The first ODI will take place on January 19 in Paarl.
The T20I series has been called off till further notice.
