47 arriving players put in quarantine as virus detected
Four coronavirus cases have been detected from charter flights carrying tennis players, coaches and officials to Melbourne for the Australian Open, forcing 47 players into strict hotel quarantine.
Health authorities confirmed there’d been three positive tests for COVID-19 returned on Saturday, and another on Sunday. None of the cases have so far involved players.
However, the players from the two affected flights — arriving from Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi — were in a strict 14-day quarantine, unable to leave their hotel rooms or practice, health authorities and tournament organizers said Saturday. The Australian Open is set to start Feb. 8.
Health authorities initially said two positive COVID-19 cases — a coach and a member of the air crew — emerged from a charter flight from Los Angeles, and the other positive test was a coach on the flight from Abu Dhabi.
On Sunday, Victoria state’s COVID-19 quarantine commissioner Emma Cassar told a news conference another positive test, from a member of a television broadcast team, had been returned off Los Angeles flight. All four cases had tested negative before boarding flights to Australia. All had been transferred to a health hotel.
The coach of Canadian star Bianca Andreescu said he has tested positive after arriving from Abu Dhabi. Sylvain
Bruneau said the “rest of my team is negative.”
Tennis Australia confirmed there were 24 players on the flight from Los Angeles and 23 on the flight from Abu Dhabi. Those were among 17 charter flights from seven international destinations bringing up to 1,200 players, coaches, staff and officials into Australia for the tournament.
Australian Open tournament Director Craig Tiley issued a statement Saturday saying organizers “are communicating with everyone on this flight, and particularly the playing group whose conditions have now changed, to ensure their needs are being catered to as much as possible, and that they are fully appraised of the situation.”
On Sunday, Tiley told Australia’s Nine Network that organizers and players were forewarned there’d be a “significant risk” of restrictions being imposed on players if there were positive COVID-19 cases.
“We did make it very clear in the beginning,” Tiley said. “Now we have to manage an environment over the next 14 days for those who won’t be able to practice. “It’s a tough situation. We’ve got to do whatever we can to make it as fair as possible for those player that are in lockdown.”
Kei Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open runner-up, and two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka were among a group of players who arrived on the flight from Los Angeles.
British player Heather Watson said on Twitter that the others who arrived from Abu Dhabi “are NOT allowed out [of ] our rooms.” She posted the notification that she and others who were on the flight received informing them of the quarantine.
“The Chief Health Officer has reviewed the flight and has determined that everyone on board needs to isolate and will be confined to their rooms for the 14-day quarantine period,” said the notification, which Watson posted.
“We are aware of the major impact this has on your preparation for the Australian summer,” it continued, pledging “to do everything we can to mitigate this impact.”