Coronavirus: South Africa Team Reach Kolkata, To Leave For Home On Tuesday

Coronavirus in India: The Sports Ministry issued an advisory to all sports federations in the country, including the BCCI, that public gatherings during sports events should be avoided

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Kolkata: In the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, the South African cricket team will leave for home on Tuesday. The Proteas reached Kolkata on Monday and will fly via Kolkata as the city is yet to report a case of coronavirus. The players and support staff will stay at a hotel which is close to the airport. Though the second and third ODI matches were called off and the South African cricket team could have flew back from Delhi , but they decided to stay in Kolkata for a day and fly from there to Dubai and back home. The medical advisor to the South African team had adviced them to speak to BCCI and make arrangements so that they can fly back home from Kolkata . Initially, the players and support staff wanted to stay in a hotel in central Kolkata where cricketers usually stay during international matches. But for the safety and security reasons the Goverment of West Bengal have made arrangements for the South Africans to stay at a hotel close to the airport. "They will land here tomorrow and then leave in the morning the day after. The BCCI is accordingly trying to make arrangements closer to the airport. We have also briefed the Chief Minister about the developments," said Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Avishek Dalmiya. The team chose to fly via Kolkata as the city is yet to report a case of coronavirus thus far, although many are under in isolation or being screened for the deadly disease throughout the state of West Bengal. Their flight route takes them to South Africa via Dubai. The three-match series was scheduled from March 12 to 18. The first match went ahead as scheduled, albeit it was eventually washed out without a ball bowled, on March 12 amid uncertainty over the rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the country. On the day of the match, the Sports Ministry issued an advisory to all sports federations in the country, including the BCCI, that public gatherings during sports events should be avoided. It was initially decided that the rest of the matches, which were to be held in Lucknow (March 15) and Kolkata (March 18), would be played without spectators. However, the BCCI subsequently announced that the series has been rescheduled. "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) along with Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Friday announced to reschedule the ongoing ODI series in view of the Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Cricket South Africa will visit India at a later date to play 3 One-day Internationals. The BCCI-CSA will jointly work out the revised schedule," said the board in a statement signed by secretary Jay Shah. (With IANS Inputs)