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Three more including 2 ground-staff members test positive at Wankhede Stadium

Written by : PTI

Two more members of the ground-staff and a plumber at the Wankhede Stadium have tested positive for coronavirus. Earlier last Saturday, 10 ground-staff members of the stadium had tested positive, but most of them have since recovered.

This comes a day after the facility was cleared to host its share of 10 IPL matches. The stadium is due to host its first IPL game of the season on April 10, following the lung-opener in Chennai between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 9.

"Three at the stadium have tested positive, two are groundsmen," a Mumbai Cricket Association source told PTI.

On Monday, the Maharashtra government cleared the decks for the event in Mumbai despite the weekend lockdown provisions and night curfew in the city.

The government allowed teams to practice and travel from their respective hotels to the stadium after 8pm, when the night curfew would be on to curb the pandemic.

Due to the massive surge of COVID-19 cases in Mumbai and Maharashtra, the state government on Sunday announced "Break the Chain", under which section 144 and night-curfew from 8pm to 7am on weekdays has been imposed on entire Maharashtra, including Mumbai. 

However, the state government has allowed the IPL teams to practice beyond 8pm, provided there is "strict adherence to bio-bubble”.

"Considering the match-timings, teams practicing at the CCI and MCA are scheduled to practice in 2 sessions -- from 4pm to 6.30pm and 7.30pm to 10pm," wrote Srirang Gholap, Under Secretary of the Disaster Management, Relief and Rehabilitation department, in a letter issued to the BCCI.

Mumbai is scheduled to host 10 matches of the IPL at the Wankhede Stadium and nine of them are scheduled to start at 7.30pm. The first game at the Wankhede is due on April 10 between Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals.

Meanwhile, the city recorded more than 11,000 COVID-19 cases on Sunday.

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