Player believed to be among Australian Open participants infected with COVID-19 - The Age

A player is believed to be among the Australian Open participants who have returned positive tests for COVID-19 in yet another blow for the grand slam, and more cases may come to light as testing continues, Victorian health officials say.

At least five positive cases have been confirmed among passengers who arrived in Melbourne on charter flights for the Open, which is due to begin on February 8.

Players and officials have been arriving in Melbourne on charter flights ahead of the Australian Open.Credit:Getty Images

Four cases linked to the Australian Open contingent were officially reported on Monday, but it is not yet clear if they include any of the five cases that had already come to light.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said all four cases reported on Monday were "tucked away safely in hotel quarantine".

The state's Chief Health Officer, Brett Sutton, added: "I believe there's one player among the four."

The Department of Health and Human Services and Tennis Australia have been contacted for comment.

Passengers on three Australian Open charter flights have now been sent into hard quarantine, including more than 70 players who are unable to train for 14 days before the year's first grand slam.

"I think the people who tested positive thus far were probably exposed before they got on the flights," Professor Sutton said.

"But it will be the test results in coming days that will give us a picture of whether anyone's had infection transmitted to them on a flight.

"That's why the rules are extremely strict for these tennis players and their entourage, as much as for any other international arrival."

Players in hard lockdown are unable to leave their rooms, in contrast with other competitors and their support staff who will be allowed to train at Melbourne Park, the National Tennis Centre and Albert Reserve courts for up to five hours each day.

Some players have reacted angrily to the news they are unable to leave their rooms to train and world No.1 Novak Djokovic has reportedly written to Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley asking – among other requests – for players in hard lockdown to be released early.

But Mr Andrews said there would be no special treatment for players and disputed claims they were not told of the rules.

"People were told what the rules were. The rules will not be changing, because the public health advice is where those rules came from," he said.

"I know that there's been a bit of chatter from a number of players about the rules. Well, the rules apply to them as they apply to everybody else, and they were all briefed on that before they came, and that was the condition on which they came.

"There's no special treatment here because the virus doesn't treat you specially, so neither do we."

At least two players have been cautioned for "low-level but dangerous acts" after opening their doors to talk to people down the corridor.

Among the five cases confirmed as of Sunday night is Sylvain Bruneau, coach of Bianca Andreescu, who tested positive after flying to Melbourne from Abu Dhabi last week.

Three other confirmed cases travelled into Australia on a flight from Los Angeles – a crew member, a tennis coach and a member of a broadcast team.

A fifth participant tested positive after arriving in Melbourne at 5.30am on Saturday on Qatar Airways flight QR 7485 from Doha.

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2021-01-18 01:22:00Z
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