Coronavirus: Cricket club outbreak linked to stag trip

Barlaston Cricket Club was forced to cancel Sunday's match after two players tested positive for Covid-19

A coronavirus outbreak at a cricket club has been linked to a stag party who returned from a trip to Prague.

Barlaston Cricket Club was forced to cancel Sunday's match after two members tested positive for Covid-19.

Staffordshire's public health director said that instead of self-isolating after the trip, the individuals "decided to have a game of cricket".

But the club said the players were back before quarantine measures were introduced.

No more cases have arisen as a result of matches or events, the club said.

Quarantine measures for passengers returning from the Czech Republic were introduced during the early hours of Saturday 29 August.

The club said the 17 stag party members returned on Friday 28 August.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said public health director Dr Richard Harling told councillors the first case caught the virus in London, then flew to Prague where they infected five other people, who then brought it back home.

"They should have quarantined. Instead they decided to have a game of cricket, so there we are," he said.

"Our job is to be able to catch them and to minimise the spread of the virus before it gets out of control.

"Quarantine for returning travellers is a system that relies almost entirely on trust, so we certainly don't get told who's returning from different countries or where they live."

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In a statement, Barlaston Cricket Club said four people on the trip became infected by the index case and, of those, three played cricket on 29 August.

A third positive test was recorded after the player undertaking a second test.

"They were entitled to take part in the games because there was no requirement to self-isolate," the club said.

"None of those who played cricket were showing any Covid symptoms before playing the game on Saturday."

The club said its EvePass system and track and trace sign in "worked efficiently" and protocols minimised the chance of transmission at the club.

It reopened on Tuesday "after a thorough deep-clean of the premises".

If any players had been showing Covid symptoms, they would have isolated, the club added.

"We strongly refute the statement that rules were broken and the insinuation that players were selected with specific Covid symptoms."

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office currently advises against "all but essential travel to the Czech Republic".

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