The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) on Thursday announced that 162 people - players, officials, and administrators - who travelled into Trinidad have tested negative for the coronavirus. "They will now be kept in quarantine in the official hotel for 14 days during which time they will be tested regularly. If any member of the party is found to have contracted the virus they will be removed from the hotel and placed in further isolation in accordance with the current protocols in Trinidad and Tobago, but as of now all those who have arrived in Trinidad and Tobago are free from COVID-19," the CPL said in a statement.
"It has been a colossal effort by all involved to get everyone safely into Trinidad & Tobago and we would like to thank everyone for their hard work and diligence. Our main priority is the health and wellbeing of all those involved in CPL and the wider population in the host country, to have got through this first step without any cases is encouraging news, but we will remain vigilant," Michael Hall, Tournament Operations Director, said.
The CPL is all set to become the first major cricket league to start amid the coronavirus pandemic from August 18 while the final of the tournament will be played on September 10.
The whole tournament will be played in Trinidad and Tobago across two stadiums and behind closed doors.
All the overseas participants will be tested for Covid-19 before departure and then upon arrival followed by two more tests which will be conducted after a span of 7 and 14 days.
The tournament will take place in a bio-secure environment with a series of stringent protocols in place to protect those involved in the tournament and the wider population from the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The first match will see last year's runners-up, the Guyana Amazon Warriors, taking on the Trinbago Knight Riders on August 18.