Dutch tour of South Africa postponed after new travel curbs
CAPETOWN: The one-day international series between South Africa and the Netherlands has been postponed after the discovery of a new COVID-19 variant in South Africa led to travel curbs being enforced, the two cricket boards said on Saturday.
Rain forced Friday s first ODI at Centurion to be abandoned. The boards had said it was “highly unlikely” the visiting team would be able to fly out of the country over the weekend.
The decision came as a result of “mounting anxiety and concern” from the Dutch side with travel bans and restrictions on flights from South Africa being imposed by the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.
“It must be made clear that the concerns are strictly over travel issues and how soon the team can get home and have nothing to do with the integrity of the Bio-Secure Environment that CSA has successfully hosted,” KNCB chairman Jurgen Delfos said.
Read more: UK confirms first two cases of new COVID-19 variant
Earlier in the day, Pakistan announced a ban on entry from six countries due to the threat from the new COVID-19 variant Omicron.
A statement by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said that a ban on direct or indirect inbound travel from six countries – South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana and Eswatini – and one territory Hong Kong has been imposed, with the countries placed in Category C “with immediate effect”.
