Cricket West Indies suspends all tournaments amid coronavirus scare

Amid the coronavirus outbreak across the world, the Cricket West Indies (CWI) has decided to suspend all its tournaments this season as well as face-to-face group meetings for a minimum of 30 days. 

Announcing the news, CWI Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Israel Dowlat said that the health and safety of the players are paramount and, therefore, they have advised the board of directors to take all the precautionary measures against the novel coronavirus. 

“The health and safety of our players, officials and staff, are of paramount importance to CWI and we have advised the Board of Directors to take proactive policy steps to decrease the growing risk of contamination and spread of the virus," Dowlat stated.

Meanwhile, Dr Donovan Bennett, the chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee, said that the gathering of even small groups of spectators, cricketers and match officials could pose a risk to some persons of contracting the virus.

“We are acting based on medical best practice as well as in an abundance of caution. The ongoing gathering of even small groups of spectators, cricketers and match officials could pose a risk to some persons of contracting the virus and being stranded in quarantine in a non-resident country for a prolonged period. Clearly this pandemic is still evolving, and we will continue to monitor the situation throughout the Caribbean," he stated. 

The tournaments which have been suspended by the CWI are as follows:

• Final two rounds of the West Indies Championship – March 26 to 29  and April 2 to 5
• The Women’s CMI Super 50 Cup, Guyana – March 27 to April 12.
• Regional Under 15s Boys Championship, Antigua – April 9 to 20
• Regional Under 19s Girls Championship, Trinidad – April 6 to 12

Meanwhile, the following upcoming CWI meetings will be postponed, with all urgent CWI Board matters to be addressed via teleconference:

• CWI, Board of Directors’ meeting in Antigua --April 17 & 18
• CWI Annual General Meeting in Antigua-- April 19
• CWI has also advised all Territorial Boards and Local Cricket Associations to follow the advice of their respective Ministries of Health.

Notably, the coronavirus has infected more than 127,000 people around the world, with the vast majority of cases being diagnosed in China. More than 5,000 people have been killed due to coronavirus so far. 

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak as a 'pandemic', prompting the governments worldwide to take extraordinary measures to contain the spread of the deadly virus.