MELBOURNE, Australia – Three more people linked to the Australian Open have tested positive for COVID-19 in Melbourne, increasing to 10 those associated with the Grand Slam tennis tournament, which begins on February 8.
Victoria Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville confirmed that the new cases were detected on Wednesday, adding that authorities are “very confident” that one of the cases is a tennis player who is spreading the virus and it is not infectious.
The player is already in a rigid block, as they were on board a flight to Melbourne with another positive case. The other two cases are a player and his support person.
These 10 positive cases mean that a total of 72 players remain in confinement after being considered close contacts of these positives on three charter flights from Abu Dhabi, Doha and Los Angeles to Melbourne.
There were 17 tournament charter flights that arrived in Australia over three days last week so that players and their companions could go through a mandatory 14-day quarantine before the tournament.
Australian Open director Craig Tiley said 3,200 tests were conducted on more than 1,200 players, support staff and tournament officials.
“We are in our sixth day and so far the numbers have been extremely low and if they are active cases they go straight to the medi-hotel,” he told Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Wednesday
Tiley criticized what he said was a “minority” of players who continue to complain about hotel quarantine conditions on social media.
“Culturally, there is a different approach to how the virus is managed,” he said. “We are proud here in Victoria and Australia for how we have done this and protected the community as we have done it. We will continue to do this. “
Tennis Australia declined to provide the Associated Press with a list of the 72 affected players, but many made their status known through social media posts.
Australia’s international borders are almost all closed, although there are exemptions in special circumstances. All arrivals must be quarantined.
The state of Victoria, which has Melbourne as its capital, was responsible for 810 of the 909 deaths in Australia caused by COVID-19, most during a second deadly wave three months ago, which resulted in curfews and blockades for the city.