AUSTRALIAN OPEN TO ADMIT 390,000 FANS
THE Australian Open will be allowed to admit up to 30,000 fans a day, around 50 per cent of the usual attendance, when the
Grand Slam gets underway a week tomorrow, Victoria State sports minister Martin Pakula said yesterday.
The limit will be reduced to 25,000 over the last five days of the tournament when there are fewer matches, but Pakula said the announcement would ensure some of the biggest crowds for a sporting event since the beginning of the pandemic.
‘It’ll mean that over the 14 days, we will have up to 390,000 people here at Melbourne Park and that’s about 50 per cent of the average over the last three years,’ he told reporters.
‘It will not be the same as the last few years but it will be the most significant international event with crowds that the world has seen in many, many months.’
Pakula stressed the decision was a testament to the job the people of Victoria had done in containing coronavirus after enduring one of the longest and strictest lockdowns in the world.
It has been 24 days since Victoria reported a locally acquired COVID-19 infection, while Australia as a whole yesterday posted a 13th straight day without a community case.
The Australian government said the country remained on track to start its vaccine rollout from late February despite reports of supply problems in Europe.
More than 1,000 people, players and their entourages, were obliged to undergo 14 days of quarantine on their arrival in Australia ahead of the year’s first Grand Slam.
Most were allowed out of their rooms for up to five hours a day for training and gym work, but 72 players remained in lockdown after passengers on their flights to Australia tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. Despite gripes from some at the start of quarantine, tournament chief Craig Tiley said he was ‘particularly proud’ of the ‘playing group’, most of whom will be out of quarantine by the end of the weekend.
‘I’ve seen a few of them this morning and contrary to what some players said 10 days ago, the vast majority of them are absolutely happy to be out and very appreciative of our efforts to protect them,’ he added.
Local health authorities said yesterday they were still managing five active COVID-19 cases connected to the tournament, one of them a player.
Spain’s Paula Badosa, the world number 67, was the only player to announce she had tested positive in Melbourne. She has another few days of quarantine to complete.