MELBOURNE (AP) – All competitions in six Australian Open tuning events scheduled for Thursday were canceled after an employee at one of the tournament’s quarantine hotels in Melbourne tested positive for COVID-19.
Players preparing for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, which is due to start on Monday, must isolate themselves in their hotels until the test is negative for coronavirus disease.
“We will work with everyone involved to facilitate testing as quickly as possible,” said Tennis Australia in a statement announcing the postponement of all matches that would be played on Thursday in Melbourne Park.
Victoria’s Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said he called a press conference early on Wednesday to announce the case “with great caution”, although he acknowledged that new restrictions could affect hundreds of people associated with the Australian Open .
Andrews spoke before the entire game on Thursday was postponed, which he acknowledged was a possibility. But as for the Australian Open, Andrews said: “At this stage, there is no impact on the tournament itself.”
Any players, coaches or officials who were quarantined at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Melbourne were considered casual contacts by the 26-year-old infected man and were forced to stay in his hotels until the test is negative.
Everyone in the city must wear masks indoors.
The hotel announces that it has 550 rooms, including 25 premium suites, so potentially hundreds of people associated with the tournament could be forced to isolate themselves. This could test the determination of players who recently came out of two weeks of quarantine and give ammunition to critics of the decision to allow people from around the world to fly to the first tournament of the year.
The Australian Open organizers did not immediately know how many players would have to isolate.
According to current plans, up to 30,000 spectators are expected daily at Melbourne Park for the two-week Grand Slam event and there was no immediate indication of a change.
Everyone arriving in Australia must undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine in accordance with the COVID-19 pandemic regulations. The Australian Open used three hotels in Melbourne to quarantine most players and had other secure 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 the quarantine and were not allowed to leave their hotels without a negative result.
The infected worker tested negative on his last day at the hotel on January 29, but later tested positive and has been working with government and health officials to track contacts. Andrews said the man was at a medical center and dozens of his close contacts were in compulsory isolation.
“This is a case. There is no need for people to panic, ”said Andrews. “There is no need for people to be alarmed. We Victorians know what to do and have proven, as a state, to be very successful in managing this type of outbreak, this type of problem. “
Earlier on Wednesday, Victoria health officials announced that the state had spent 28 days without a case involving local transmission.
Australia has 909 deaths attributed to COVID-19, including 820 in the state of Victoria. Most of them occurred during a second deadly wave last year, when a rigid block and night curfews were instituted in Melbourne.