England captain Joe Root has said that a Covid-19 positive test result on a tour of Sri Lanka will not mean an automatic end of the tour and that his side will have to manage to complete the tour even if there are any cases.
England had curtailed their tour of South Africa recently with the ODI series being called following some positive cases among South African players.
“I don’t think it (a positive test result) will end in an automatic end of the tour,” said Root ahead of the two-Test tour that begins on January 14.
“They are decisions that have to be made by the medical staff and the people entrusted in making those decisions. I don’t think it’s a player decision even though guys have the opportunity to opt-out if they don’t feel safe. All we’ve got to do is make sure we follow the guidelines as best as possible, if we do that we’ll give ourselves the best chance of that not being a situation. Albeit we know the protocols if something was to happen.”
Root said that they will have to be practical enough to accept Covid-19 cases coming up during tours as a norm.
“The reality is, look around the rest of the world, Pakistan in New Zealand, teams have had to deal with cases on tour. That might be the case for us, if so we have to manage it as best as possible.”
Root’s comments come after South Africa’s chief medical officer Dr. Shuaib Manjra called on England and other countries to accept tempered bio-bubble models like the one followed by England last year while organizing the home summer was expensive and not feasible for all nations.
