ISLAMABAD: Three cricketers and five support staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus, the cricket board confirmed on Friday, ahead of of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
The seventh edition of PSL is scheduled to start in Karachi on Jan. 27 and run through Feb. 27.
In early March last year, the tournament was postponed after players and members of the support staff contracted COVID-19. The league resumed in June.
PCB chief operating officer Salman Naseer, who is also the PSL director, said the positive eight cased were detected after coronavirus screening on Thursday.
“As per latest results received, in over 250 tests conducted since Thursday, three players and five support staff have tested positive and have been isolated,” Naseer said in a press release.
“Players and support staff having completed isolation and received two negative tests will start training from 24 January.”
He added that the PCB has “robust health and safety plans” to make sure the league is held in the announced timeframe and has been regularly testing tournament staff and franchise players arriving in Karachi since Jan. 14.
“PCB remains committed to creating a safe and secure environment for all participants so that they can play and perform to the best of their abilities,” he said.
The PSL is Pakistan’s own professional T20 cricket league, comprising six teams that each represent their city. Over the past six years, the PSL has become wildly popular with fans in Pakistan and abroad for the exhilarating action and rivalry that accompanies the tournament.
In the first match of its seventh edition, defending champions Multan Sultans will face the home team Karachi Kings.
Quetta Gladiators will stand toe to toe with the 2017 winners Peshawar Zalmi on the following day.
In the first of the six double-headers to be played in the 32-day tournament, Multan Sultans will take on the 2020 runners-up Lahore Qalandars, followed by a contest between Karachi Kings and Quetta Gladiators.
After Karachi hosts 15 matches from Jan. 27 to Feb. 7, action will shift to Lahore’s Qaddafi Stadium where the remaining 15 league matches and four play-offs will be held.
The final match of the tournament will also take place in Lahore.
Players, support staff test positive for COVID ahead of PSL matches
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Players, support staff test positive for COVID ahead of PSL matches
- Seventh edition of PSL is scheduled to start in Karachi on Jan. 27 and run through Feb. 27
- Last year, the tournament was postponed after players and members of the support staff contracted the virus
Pakistan’s PIA to resume London flights from Mar. 29 after six-year gap
- Newly privatized airline says will operate four weekly flights from Islamabad to London
- PIA is already operating three fllights per week to British city Manchester, says airline
ISLAMABAD: The newly privatized Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will operate direct flights to London starting Mar. 29, 2026, after six years, its spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday.
The PIA resumed its flight operations to the UK in October this year with its inaugural flight to Manchester. The airline is currently operating three weekly flights to the British city.
Britain lifted restrictions on Pakistani carriers in July, nearly half a decade after grounding them following a 2020 PIA Airbus A320 crash in Karachi that killed 97 people. The disaster was followed by claims of irregularities in pilot licensing, which led to bans in the US, UK and the European Union.
“Pakistan International Airlines has announced the expansion of its operations in the United Kingdom with the resumption of flights to London,” the airline’s spokesperson said in a statement.
“Starting Mar. 29, PIA will operate four weekly flights from Islamabad to London.”
The airline said that the London flights will be operated from Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 4, which it said is recognized as one of its most modern terminals.
“London was PIA’s very first international destination and remains one of its most important and attractive routes,” the spokesperson said.
Pakistan’s government succeeded in its frequent efforts to privatize the airline this month after a consortium, led by Arif Habib Group, on Dec. 23 secured a 75 percent stake in PIA for Rs135 billion ($482 million) after several rounds of bidding, valuing the airline at Rs180 billion ($643 million).
The sale marked Pakistan’s most aggressive attempt in decades to reform the debt-ridden national airline, which had accumulated more than $2.8 billion in financial losses. The government said it would end decades of state-funded bailouts and help revive the airline.
In an exclusive interview with Arab News this week, the airline’s new owner Arif Habib said he plans to renovate PIA planes, improve maintenance and flight schedule, and bring in new aircraft to revive the carrier.
Habib said he sees the region comprising the UK, the US and Canada as a “lucrative market” for the airline’s business.
“There we can increase the frequency of the flight,” he said. “We will also try to run flights to Canada from Karachi, Lahore, and I think it’s already in Islamabad.”
