Twenty-four players on a US charter flight to Melbourne must quarantine for two weeks after a flight crew member and a passenger – not a player – tested positive. Both gave negative results within 72 hours of boarding the flight, which carried a total of 79 people.
Another 23 players are also quarantined after a charter flight carrying 64 people from Abu Dhabi arrived in Melbourne. One person – again not a player – gave positive results after the flight, despite the fact that he presented the documentation of a negative Covid-19 test before take-off.
All 47 affected players will not be able to leave the hotel rooms for a period of 14 days until they are medically authorized. They will not be eligible to practice.
“All the passengers on the flight are already in quarantine hotels and the positive case, which is not a player and which gave negative results before the flight, was transferred to a health hotel,” the second statement said. Abu Dhabi-Melbourne flight.
Passengers who tested positive for the virus on the US flight were also transferred to a health hotel.
“Our thoughts are with the two people who gave positive results on the flight and we wish them a lot of recovery,” said Craig Tiley, director of the Australian Open tournament in the first statement of the organizers.
“Rigorous testing program”
“Soon, half of the AO players will have to isolate themselves,” she wrote on Twitter. “Weeks and weeks of training and hard work to lose for a positive person for Covid in an empty 3/4 plane. I’m sorry, but this is crazy.”
World No. 71 Sorana Cirstea said she understood the need to be quarantined, but the fact that she could not train and practice would affect her ability to compete effectively at the Australian Open.
“What we can’t do is COMPETE after sitting on a couch for 14 days. This is the problem, not the quarantine rule.
“I would need at least 3 weeks after that to be in decent shape again and to compete at a high level! Cirstea said in another tweet.
Originally scheduled to begin this month, the Australian Open has been rescheduled for February 8-21 due to Covid-19 concerns.
While most of the world’s top players went straight to Melbourne, others such as Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams flew to Adelaide.
“SA Health has confirmed that there is no one with an active COVID-19 infection in the entire Adelaide tennis cohort,” the Australian Open wrote on Twitter later on Saturday. “Testing will continue daily.”
Ahead of Saturday’s developments, tournament organizers said players would “also undergo a more rigorous testing schedule than most returning travelers.”
Everyone has to be quarantined for 14 days, but they are allowed to go out for five hours a day to train in strict bio-safe bubbles before a lot of warm-up tournaments, all in Melbourne, the week before the grand slam.
But the 47 players now housed in their hotels will be left wondering how they will be able to prepare properly or the first grand slam of the season.
CNN’s Dan Kamal contributed to the report.