ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Cricket Board has formed a two-member fact-finding panel to investigate how players were infected with coronavirus in the bio-secure bubble, leading to the postponement of the country’s premier Twenty20 league.
The Pakistan Super League was indefinitely postponed on Thursday after six players and a support staff member — including Australian legspinner Fawad Ahmed — tested positive for COVID-19.
The two-member panel is made up of Pakistan’s infectious disease experts Dr. Syed Faisal Mahmood and Dr. Salman Mohammad Abbas, who will review the bio-secure bubble protocols put in place for the PSL. They will submit a report to PCB chairman Ehsan Mani by March 31.
The PCB said in a statement on Sunday that the independent panel has also been tasked with identifying shortcomings of the bio-secure bubble and “advise as to the reasons why the bio-secure environment did not remain COVID-19 free.”
Mani said that both doctors will also speak with all the relevant PSL stakeholders, including players, event and hotel staff as well as medical and compliance officers attached to all six teams.
“The independent panel of two distinguished experts has been appointed with the sole purpose of an honest, constructive and objective review,” Mani said.
Medical panel to investigate spread of coronavirus in Pakistan Super League
https://arab.news/5yz8s
Medical panel to investigate spread of coronavirus in Pakistan Super League
- Infectious disease experts will explore why the PSL players’ and staff’s bio-secure bubble failed
- The hugely popular PSL was postponed mid-league after six players and a staff member tested positive for COVID-19
At least five killed as massive fire guts dozens of shops at Pakistan mall — rescue official
- More than 20 fire trucks were busy dousing the fire at Karachi’s Gul Plaza
- The cause of the fire, which injured 15 people, was not immediately known
ISLAMABAD: A massive fire tore through a multi-story shopping mall in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi late Saturday and killed at least five people, rescue officials said.
Firefighters and rescue workers rushed to Gul Plaza in Karachi’s Saddar business district upon receiving information about the blaze at around 10pm, according to a Rescue 1122 spokesman.
Television footage showed firefighters in protective gear battling the flames as several fire trucks used ladders, water cannons and hoses to douse the building’s floors, where flames shot out of windows and balconies.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
“More than 20 fire brigade trucks, water bowsers and snorkels are present at the scene and additional firefighting resources have been called in,” the spokesman said early Sunday.
“Over 20 people were injured in the fire and the death toll has now reached five.”
Police said an investigation would be launched once the blaze was extinguished. However, most structures in Karachi, and other parts of the country, lack fire prevention and firefighting systems, which often result in damages and casualties.
Authorities said the fire spread rapidly after erupting in an area of the mall where shopkeepers had stored imported garments, clothing and plastic household goods, which helped fuel the flames.
“Due to the old nature of the building, there is a risk of its collapse after being affected by the severe fire,” the Rescue 1122 spokesman said. “The operation is being carried out with extreme caution.”
Karachi is the capital of southern Sindh province, where such incidents are common. In November 2023, a fire tore through a shopping mall in the city, killing 10 people and injuring 22 others.
