ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Cricket Board has allowed fast bowler Naseem Shah to re-enter the bio-secure bubble before returning to play in the country’s premier Twenty20 league.
The 18-year-old Shah was expelled last Monday from the remainder of Pakistan Super League after arriving at a team hotel in Lahore with an outdated negative test for COVID-19. The last 20 games of the postponed tournament are being played in the United Arab Emirates.
The PCB’s protocols required all players traveling to Abu Dhabi to present a negative test taken not more than 48 hours prior to arrival at the team hotel. Shah presented a report on Monday from a test that was conducted on May 18.
But after meeting with franchise owners, the PCB allowed Shah to return to the team hotel after returning another negative test COVID-19. Shah will then have to clear two more COVID-19 tests before boarding the last charter flight to Abu Dhabi for the tournament.
Shah is supposed to be the key player for Quetta Gladiators in the PSL. He rose to the fame with his pace when he made his test debut against Australia in November 2019 and then grabbed a hat trick in a test match against Bangladesh at Rawalpindi last year. He has played in nine test matches and grabbed 20 wickets.
The PCB has not yet announced the schedule of the remaining 20 PSL games in Abu Dhabi. The league was postponed in March when several players and support staff among the six franchises tested positive for COVID-19.
Naseem Shah set to join bio-secure bubble for Pakistan Super League
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Naseem Shah set to join bio-secure bubble for Pakistan Super League
- Shah was expelled last Monday from the remainder of PSL after arriving at a team hotel in Lahore with an outdated coronavirus test
- Shah will have to clear two more COVID-19 tests before boarding a flight to Abu Dhabi for the tournament
Pakistan to launch first national anti-polio drive of 2026 today to vaccinate millions
- Pakistani health volunteers will aim to vaccinate over 45 million children from Feb. 2-8, reports state media
- Pakistan reported 31 polio cases last year, which were significantly lower than the 74 cases it reported in 2024
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani health authorities will launch the year’s first national anti-polio drive today, Monday, to vaccinate over 45 million children against the virus, state media reported as Islamabad aims to eliminate the disease.
Eliminating poliovirus remains a critical health initiative of Pakistan, which along with Afghanistan, is one of only two countries worldwide where the virus is endemic. Pakistan reported 31 cases of polio in 2025, which authorities say is a significant decline from the alarming 74 cases of the disease it reported in 2024.
Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq announced last month that the anti-polio vaccination campaign will be conducted across the country from Feb. 2 to 8, during which over 45 million children under the age of five will be targeted. She said a total of 400,000 trained health volunteers will go door-to-door to administer polio drops to children.
“A varied duration anti-polio campaign in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will begin from tomorrow [Monday],” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday.
The National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC), in an earlier statement, said six national polio campaigns were conducted across the country in 2025. The NEOC urged parents to fully cooperate with polio teams and ensure their children receive polio drops.
Polio workers and their security escorts have repeatedly been targeted in militant attacks, particularly in parts of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces, complicating efforts to vaccinate children in remote areas.
A gun attack targeting a polio vaccination team in Pakistan’s northwestern Bajaur district in December 2025 left one police constable and a civilian dead.
Natural disasters, such as floods, have also disrupted vaccination campaigns in recent years.
