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
Death toll in Pakistan shopping plaza fire rises to 67, officials say
- Rescue teams still searching for damaged Gul Plaza in Karachi where blaze erupted on Saturday, says police surgeon
- Karachi has a long history of deadly fires, often linked to poor safety standards, weak regulatory enforcement
KARACHI: The death toll from a devastating fire at a shopping plaza in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi jumped to 67 on Thursday after police and a hospital official confirmed that the remains of dozens more people had been found.
Police surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed said rescue teams were still searching the severely damaged Gul Plaza in the Karachi, where the blaze erupted on Saturday.
Most remains were discovered in fragments, making identification extremely difficult, but the deaths of 67 people have been confirmed, she said. Asad Raza, a senior police official in Karachi, also confirmed the death toll. Authorities previously had confirmed 34 deaths.
Family members of the missing have stayed near the destroyed plaza and hospital, even after providing their DNA for testing. Some have tried to enter the building forcibly, criticizing the rescue efforts as too slow.
“They are not conducting the search properly,” said Khair-un-Nisa, pointing toward the rescuers. She stood outside the building in tears, explaining that a relative who had left to go shopping has been missing since the blaze.
Another woman, Saadia Saeed, said her brother has been trapped inside the building since Saturday night, and she does not know what has happened to him.
“I am ready to go inside the plaza to look for him, but police are not allowing me,” she said.
There was no immediate comment from authorities about accusations they have been too slow.
Many relatives of the missing claim more lives could have been saved if the government had acted more swiftly. Authorities have deployed police around the plaza to prevent relatives from entering the unstable structure, while rescuers continue their careful search.
Investigators say the blaze erupted at a time when most shop owners were either closing for the day or had already left. Since then, the Sindh provincial government has said around 70 people were missing after the flames spread rapidly, fueled by goods such as cosmetics, clothing, and plastic items.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, though police have indicated that a short circuit may have triggered the blaze.
Karachi has a long history of deadly fires, often linked to poor safety standards, weak regulatory enforcement, and illegal construction.
In November 2023, a shopping mall fire killed 10 people and injured 22. One of Pakistan’s deadliest industrial disasters occurred in 2012, when a garment factory fire killed at least 260 people.
