Two more Australian Open players tested positive for COVID-19, government officials said on Wednesday, as authorities focused on those who would pay the tournament’s quarantine bill.
Victoria State Police Minister Lisa Neville said two players and a non-Australian Open player had three new infections reported on Wednesday.
A total of 10 people associated with the Grand Slam, including four players, have now tested positive for the virus.
There was some confusion about the exact figures, with the results of the authorities’ tests being later reclassified as “viral shedding” from previous infections.
Viral vomiting is not contagious.
Neville said authorities were “very confident” that one of the two infections with new players was a case of viral outbreak.
“Of the other two, it is less clear that he will be eliminated. This will be resolved and he is a player and a support person,” Neville told reporters.
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said two players who reported positive on Tuesday were also boars.
More than 70 players and their entourage are confined to their hotel rooms for 14 days and cannot train for the Australian Open between February 8-21 after passengers on three charter flights tested positive.
Authorities raised huge funds to fly more than 1,200 players, coaches and officials on 17 charter flights to Australia to wear the first Grand Slam of the year.
Tiley said the quarantine costs could exceed $ 40 million, some of which are covered by the Victorian state government.
“The state government supports and assists this,” he told 3AW radio on Wednesday.
Neville challenged that.
“We have confirmed three times that today, again, it is fully funded by the Australian Open,” she said.
“The taxpayer does not contribute to the hotel quarantine program (Australian Open).”
A number of players have complained about the conditions, attracting a fierce reaction from Australians, who have criticized the players for being “entitled” even though thousands of the nation’s citizens remain stranded abroad.
The world of women in Kazakh no. 28 Yulia Putintseva complained of an infestation of quarantined mice and said that the windows would not open in her room.
She later posted a video on Twitter with mice in her room.
there are actually a lot of them! Not even 1 in my room now🤦🏼♀️ pic.twitter.com/uUaicOhoB5
– Yulia Putintseva (@PutintsevaYulia) January 19, 2021
Tiley said on Tuesday that the “vast majority” of players support Australia’s strict protocols.