All equipment involved in the IPL telecast, which will operate from Mumbai, will be in a bio-bubble, just like their counterparts in the UAE. That includes a lot of commentators who will be coming to town from all over the world and pretty much all the Star Sports office staff here.
The man responsible for keeping this bio-bubble intact is Dr. Pratitt Samdhani, an intern at Breach Candy Hospital. The celebrity doctor’s list of celebrity clients includes Bollywood icons Shah Rukh Khan and Lata Mangeshkar; He was credited with saving her life when she was admitted to Breach Candy at the age of 90 with breathing difficulties.
Samdhani is a medical consultant for Disney-Hotstar.
So what exactly is a biobubble? Describing this concept, Samdhani tells TOI: “This is a new concept that has evolved due to Covid-19. It is an imaginary and safe bubble, like a balloon, not a physical one. In it, a number of people come to stay together, without having any kind of physical interaction with people outside of it. It is a bubble safely prepared to mitigate the risk of Covid-19 infections and therefore also decreases the risk of other infectious diseases that can spread. ”
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Referring to the biobubble he plans to create for the Star Sports Mumbai office during the upcoming IPL, he added: “The biobubble here will include all technical, broadcast and content people who are placed in a secure environment. As in the United Arab Emirates, food, transportation and movement have been restricted. All will be tested for Covid to decrease the chance of contracting and transmitting an infection, and then they will be placed in quarantine facilities. They will then be taken to the place of action and returned. This will be his home for the next two months, ”he explains.
Many commentators are supposed to fly from foreign countries to Mumbai to comment from here for the IPL.
“A lot of people from all over the world will fly to an event like this. Appropriate precautions will be taken. Multiple Covid tests will be done on them, they will be quarantined / isolated for two weeks before they enter the bubble. Once they are in the bubble, they will not be allowed out of it at all, unless there is an emergency, “he says.
Staying away from family for two months to be on a biobubble can be difficult for everyone on the star sports team. How do you plan to help deal with the psychological and emotional problems that people may encounter over such a long period?
“We are fully engaged in this regard. There is a medical team for this purpose. Participants know that they will be away from home, their family and friends for the required number of days. They have been counseled and I am sure they have the consent of their families to go ahead and do this kind of work. These are adults, and 60 days is not a long time for me. Health workers have been away from our families for almost the last six months. Unlike us, they are not fighting for their lives and those of their families. If they need any help, physical or mental, we’ve kept things in place so they can be easily addressed, ”she says.
Is there any lesson to be learned from the way the Chennai Super Kings saw 13 of their staff, including two players infected with the virus?
“The success of a bubble depends on the people who make it. It is a team effort. The Star India team has been working tirelessly with their parent company (Disney) in the US to make this bubble tighter. Participants must not break the bubble or do anything that is unpleasant and dangerous to themselves or to the people inside the bubble. If you do something that is not really required or not allowed, you are putting yourself and others at risk, ”says Samdhani.
Summarizing the main ‘dos’ in the bubble, it says: “’ Wear a mask when necessary. Keep washing your hands. Don’t touch your face. Keep a physical distance of one to two meters between two people and always follow the rules of the bubble. Even though you are in the bubble, they have been told that you must follow these rules. ”
Is there any lesson to be learned from the way the Chennai Super Kings saw 13 of their staff, including two players infected with the virus?
“I’m not sure why your people tested positive, but I’m sure they have time and will have an adequate number of players. I’m sure the game would continue. This is how the sport will continue until this pandemic ends. Every sporting event will follow this kind of bubble. This is the best thing to do. We hope that the risk of infection is really very low in this type of bubble ”, he concluded.
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