All matches scheduled for Thursday in Melbourne, where six preparatory tournaments are taking place for the Australian Open, which is set to start on Monday, have been canceled after a case of COVID-19 was detected among staff at one of the hotels in quarantine where some of the accredited people stayed, organizers said Thursday.
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“Health authorities informed us that a member of staff at a quarantine hotel had tested positive for Covid-19. People linked to the Australian Open who have passed their quarantine in this hotel (500 to 600 people, note) must now be tested and isolated until they receive a negative result. There will be no game at Melbourne Park on Thursday, ”they wrote in a statement.
Fifty matches were scheduled for Thursday at Melbourne Park.
Between 500 and 600 players and accredited for the Australian Open are placed in solitary confinement awaiting testing after a case of Covid-19 was detected among staff at one of the hotels in Melbourne where they have passed their quarantine, local authorities said Wednesday evening.
“They will be isolated until they receive a negative result, and this work will be done tomorrow (Thursday),” Victoria Prime Minister Daniel Andrews told a press conference.
Six preparation tournaments, all held in Melbourne Park, like the first Grand Slam of the season, are taking place in parallel this week.
The person’s last day of work at the Grand Hyatt, one of three Australian Open quarantine hotels, was Jan. 29, Andrews said.
“This is a positive case, there is no reason to panic,” he stressed.
The Australian Open, three weeks behind its initial dates, ended up getting the green light from the Australian authorities at the cost of setting up a drastic health protocol.
All the players and accredited members (staff, entourage, referees …) had to travel to the island-continent, largely free of the virus, on board about fifteen planes specially chartered by the organizers mid- January and submit to a strict fortnight upon arrival. Only five hours of daily outing, strictly timed between tennis, physical training and meals, were allowed to them.
Seventy-two players were even forced into full quarantine, without any permission to leave their hotel rooms, after several cases of Covid-19 were detected among passengers or crew on three of the flights to Melbourne.
The state of Victoria had not seen any local contamination for 28 days. This new case led local authorities to immediately tighten the rules relating to the wearing of masks and the limitation of private gatherings.
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