The sight of some of the world’s biggest tennis stars landing for the next Australian Open tournament has frustrated many Australians, unable to return home due to the pandemic.
Australia currently has a weekly limit on the number of international arrivals, with people being quarantined at a designated facility.
There are about 37,000 Australians waiting to return, reports ABC News.
Several airlines have suspended routes, making it more difficult to travel back.
On Friday, Emirates airline announced it would halt flights to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Meanwhile, the organizers of the Australian Open offer charter flights for players and other team members.
Players had to test negative before boarding the flights and were then placed in designated Australian Open quarantine hotels in Melbourne and Adelaide. They can, however, leave their rooms to train.
But two people on a chartered flight from Los Angeles carrying players, including two-time champion Victoria Azarenka and former world number three Sloane Stephens, tested positive, meaning that all passengers on that flight will be confined to their rooms for two weeks.
These players will have less than 10 days to practice before the tournament starts on February 8.
Meanwhile, former world tennis number Andy Murray failed to fly to Australia after the Briton tested positive for coronavirus.
However, one player, Tennys Sandgren, who tested positive, was allowed to fly by the organizers after his medical file was analyzed.
Sandgren posted on social media that he was sick in November, but was “totally healthy now”.
Their arrival, while so many Australians are still trying to get home, has drawn criticism.
“I can’t understand the fact that one week they announce that they are cutting the limits for citizens in half and the next week they announce that they have found 1,200 vacancies for tennis players and support staff,” Sarah, an important worker who lives in London but he is from Sydney, he told the BBC.
She has been trying to return to Sydney since October and her most recent flight has been canceled.
“All I want to do is go home. I had to attend my sister’s wedding at Zoom. My flight was timed, so I leave the quarantine in time for her baby shower, but it looks like I’m going to miss it and the birth “
On Saturday, the Australian government said it would arrange for another 20 international repatriation flights to bring its trapped citizens from “priority areas” home. Those who returned would not be counted within the limits of existing travelers, a minister confirmed.
Dr. Alyse Brown is currently based in Cambridge, UK, and has booked flights to Sydney next month. She has been trying to raise awareness of the problem.
“While Australians at home watch tennis, I will be reading on the support pages the daily horror stories of stray Australians who are homeless,” she told the BBC, speaking before the latest government flight announcement.
“It has always been evident to us that Australia has the means to take its people home, they just don’t have the political will to do so and it drives me unspeakably crazy. It’s cruel economic decision making and tennis for us is just more a group of people see government prioritized above us. “
People accessed Twitter using the hashtag #strandedaussies to share their opinions.
One user said, “Thousands of Australian citizens are still trapped abroad. I have been a big tennis fan for almost 40 years, but that is wrong. I am not going to support this Australian tennis summer.”
Earlier this week, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said that if Melbourne canceled the tournament, it would be chosen by another country.
What are the rules in Australia?
Australia has strict limits on the number of arrivals allowed to enter the country. The authorities say this is to ensure that there is enough space in a government quarantine facility.
Unlike other countries, those arriving in Australia must be quarantined in designated facilities or hotels, rather than in their own homes.
The threshold for people to enter was reduced last week after a hotel employee in Queensland contracted the British variant of the coronavirus.
Until February 15, New South Wales will have a weekly limit of 1,505 arrivals, Western Australia will allow 512 people and Queensland will have a limit of 500.
Victoria and South Australia kept their caps the same. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territories have their own “tailor-made arrangements” for those arriving.
The Australian government has operated several repatriation flights, but demand has been high.
Last month, in an interview with TV network Seven, Morrison said Australians abroad were his “first priority in terms of people returning to the country”.
“We want you to come home and you have every right to come home,” he said.