The cricketers who are part of the ongoing India versus England series as well as the IPL will not have to undergo mandatory seven-day hard quarantine as they will be transported from one bubble to another as per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) released on Saturday.

Also, the BCCI has made it clear that no individual associated with the IPL will be vaccinated as of now as the government of India has put a system in place which is currently being adhered to.

The SOP, which is in possession of PTI, states: "Players who are coming from bubble created for India vs England series may directly join the franchise squad without serving mandatory quarantine period provided.

"After the conclusion of series, they directly move to team hotel either by bus or chartered flight...if travel arrangements are to the satisfaction of CMO, such players can directly enter team bubble without need to serve quarantine or undergo RT PCR tests," the SOP stated.

Similarly, for all franchises who are having prior camps in bio-secure bubbles, if their travel arrangements are satisfactory they will be entitled bubble-to-bubble transfers.

However, if the CMO is not satisfied, then all those players need to undergo seven days of hard quarantine and return with three negative tests.

The SOP stated that at this point, the government has not specified anything on vaccination of elite athletes.

"In India, the first group to get vaccinated is healthcare and frontline workers. The second group is persons above 60 years of age as of January 1, 2022 and person between 45 to 59 years with comorbid conditions. The government is yet to announce the schedule of vaccination of other groups of people including elite athletes."

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