Sports Press-SUA TODAY Sports
MELBOURNE (AP) – All competitions at six Australian Open regular events scheduled for Thursday have been canceled after a worker at one of Melbourne’s touring quarantine hotels tested positive for COVID-19.
Players preparing for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, which is set to begin on Monday, must isolate themselves at their hotels until they test negative for coronavirus disease.
“We will work with everyone involved to facilitate testing as soon as possible,” Tennis Australia said in a statement announcing the postponement of all matches to be played on Thursday at Melbourne Park.
Victoria Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said he convened a press conference late at night on Wednesday to announce the case “with plenty of caution”, although he acknowledged that the new restrictions could affect hundreds of people associated with the Australian Open.
Andrews spoke before the entire play on Thursday was postponed, which he acknowledged was a possibility. But regarding the Australian Open, Andrews said: “At this stage, no impact on the tournament itself.”
Players, coaches or officials who were quarantined at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Melbourne were considered to be casual contacts of the 26-year-old infected man and were asked to stay in their hotels until they tested negative.
Everyone in town will have to wear masks inside.
The hotel announces that it has 550 rooms, including 25 premium apartments, so potentially hundreds of people associated with the tournament could be forced to isolate themselves again. This could test the determination of players who have recently been out of quarantine for two weeks and could give ammunition to critics of the decision to allow people to fly around the world for the first major of the year.
The organizers of the Australian Open did not immediately have details about how many players should isolate themselves.
According to current plans, up to 30,000 spectators are expected daily at Melbourne Park for the two-week Grand Slam event and there were no immediate signs of a change.
All those arriving in Australia must be subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine in accordance with COVID-19 pandemic regulations. The Australian Open used three Melbourne hotels to keep most players in quarantine and had other safe accommodation and facilities in Adelaide, South Australia, for some of the biggest stars, including Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
Players were tested every day during quarantine and were not allowed to leave hotels without a negative result.
The infected worker gave negative results on his last day at the hotel, on January 29, but later gave positive results and worked with government and health officials to keep in touch. Andrews said the man was in a medical unit and that dozens of his close contacts were being isolated.
“It simply came to our notice then. There is no need for people to panic, “said Andrews. “People do not need to be alarmed. We Victorians know what to do and we have proved, as a state, a great success in managing this type of outbreak, this type of problem. ”
Earlier on Wednesday, health officials in Victoria announced that the state had passed 28 days without a case involving local transmission.
Australia has 909 COVID-19 deaths, including 820 in Victoria. Most of these took place during the second deadly wave last year, when a severe blockade and overnight extinguishments were set up in Melbourne.