Mohammad Hafeez tweets negative test report a day after positive COVID-19 result
Veteran Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has received some good news when a second test to check for COVID-19 came back negative on Wednesday (June 24). Mohammad Hafeez was one of the 10 Pakistan players who tested positive for the coronavirus according to tests conducted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Mohammad Hafeez took to Twitter to confirm the news on Wednesday and also said he went on to take a ‘second opinion’ for satisfaction.
The all-rounder said he and all his family members have tested negative for coronavirus. “After Tested positive COVID-19 acc to PCB testing Report yesterday, as 2nd opinion & for satisfaction I personally went to Test it again along with my family and here I along with my all family members are reported Negetive (sic) Alham du Lillah. May Allah keep us all safe,” Mohammad Hafeez tweeted along with the photograph of the medical report.
Mohammad Hafeez and Wahab Riaz are among the 10 England-bound Pakistan players who tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday (June 23). The team is due to leave for England on Sunday for a Test and T20 series in August.
The PCB, however are confident of the England tour going on as per schedule. The Pakistan board said none of the 10 players and masseur had reported any prior symptoms of COVID-19 until they underwent the first round of testing on Monday ahead of the side’s departure for England next week.
Pakistan will play three Tests and as many T20 Internationals during the tour. The final itinerary is expected to be announced later this week.
Mohammad Hafeez's new result has no impact as yet on the PCB’s travel schedule for England. All players in the squad will undergo another round of testing before the team’s scheduled departure on Sunday.
The players whose results were negative in the first round will all undergo second tests in Lahore on June 25 in a bio-secure environment at the hotel they are in. The players who tested positive, including Mohammad Hafeez, are not with the rest of the squad – having been told by the board to isolate at home – but were also always scheduled to undergo another round of testing overseen by the PCB but from their own residences, according to a report on ESPNCricinfo.
Those tests would have happened on June 25 or 26 and a negative test for any of the players (who previously tested positive) would have meant one more test within 48 hours.
Players tested negative: Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Iftikhar Ahmad, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan, and Yasir Shah.