The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Wednesday that all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez will self-isolate until he tests negative for COVID-19 after breaching a bio-security protocol by posing for a photograph with a member of the public in England.
The photo posted on Twitter https://twitter.com/MHafeez22/status/1293463789086572544 by the 39-year-old all-rounder, was taken on a golf course next to the hotel where Pakistan are staying, which is part of a bio-secure bubble.
Hafeez is not part of Pakistan's 20-man test squad playing in England but is on the tour for the three-match Twenty20 international series starting Aug. 28.
"As it was evident from the photograph that Hafeez had breached the two-metre social distancing protocol...the team management has decided to isolate him until he returns a negative COVID-19 test," PCB said in a statement https://www.pcb.com.pk/press-release-detail/statement-on-mohammad-hafeez.html.
"The team management believes it was an inadvertent mistake, but a good reminder for everyone on the importance of following the bio-secure protocols, which have been designed for the health and safety of everyone involved in the series."
The PCB said Hafeez was tested for the virus on Wednesday afternoon with the results expected on Thursday.
Earlier in June, Hafeez was among the 10 Pakistan players who tested positive for the coronavirus ahead of their England tour but he returned a negative result a day later following a subsequent examination at a private laboratory in Lahore.
(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Chennai; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
