New Delhi, March 23 (IANS): With the coronavirus outbreak brining the world to an almost standstill, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to follow the pattern of the likes of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the employees are mostly working from home to follow the social distancing policy as has been prescribed by the likes of the World Health Organisation.

Speaking to IANS, an ICC official said that the health and safety of the employees is the priority and that is why necessary steps have been taken keeping in mind the pandemic and its effect.

"Like the rest of the world, the ICC is following guidelines from authorities and in line with the approach of our members, the majority of our staff are now working from home.

"Our priority is to protect the health and well-being of our staff whilst remaining fully operational. The team has full remote working capacity and this combined with a small core of critical staff deployed across two sites, means we can keep the ICC fully functioning whilst keeping our staff, their families and the wider community safe," the official said.

Asked if the ICC meetings planned for the end of the month will go ahead over conference call, the official said there was no change in plan and only urgent decisions would be taken with the full meetings rescheduled for early May.

"The board and a number of committees will convene remotely to consider matters for urgent decision only, with the full meetings rescheduled for early May. This will be kept under constant review in line with advice from relevant authorities as the health and well-being of staff and those attending the meetings remains our priority," the ICC had said last week.