As much as 600 tennis players and officials are in isolation today as a result of a Covid case being confirmed in the hotel in which they are currently staying.
All 600 must get tested due to a worker in the hotel testing positive for Covid-19. The tournament is still expected to proceed as planned despite the turmoil caused as a result of the case.
Over 1,000 tennis players, coaches and officials travelled to Australia in January. They were forced to reside in the country for a month before the first Grand Slam of the year in order to isolate for two weeks and then begin preparations for the event.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Victorian state Premier Daniel Andrews revealed that anyone who was in The Grand Hyatt Hotel recently or anybody who was a contact of a person in the hotel must isolate until they are confirmed as a non-carrier.
“There is a number of about 500, 600 people who are players and officials and others who are casual contacts,” said Andrews.
“They will be isolating until they get a negative test and that work will be done tomorrow.”
To the relief of tennis fans worldwide, Andrews clarified that the positive test should not be detrimental in any way to the beginning of the tournament.
“It may have an impact on tomorrow’s play in the lead-up events. But at this stage, there’s no impact to the tournament proper,” revealed the Premier.
There are six tournaments taking place at the moment to help with players’ fitness and also to provide adequate match preparation for the players.
Severe restrictions have seen a widespread eradication of Covid-19 in Australia over the last number of months. As a result, fans have returned to stadiums and arenas across the country for sporting events.
Andrews was quite clear as to what the priority is for Australia in the coming weeks.
“I must say that is important to us but the issues are much broader and that is about public health and public safety.”
The Australian open is due to begin on Monday February 8.
