Dozens to quarantine before Open
Three coronavirus cases have been detected among charter flights carrying tennis players, coaches and officials to Melbourne ahead of the Australian Open, health authorities and tournament organizers said Saturday.
Forty-seven players from the two affected flights — arriving from Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi — are now in a strict 14-day quarantine, unable to leave their hotel rooms or practice. The Australian Open starts Feb. 8.
Health authorities said two positive COVID-19 cases emerged from a charter flight from Los Angeles. The third positive test was from a flight from Abu Dhabi in the past 24 hours, Tennis Australia said.
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.”
Authorities earlier said that all passengers from the Los Angeles flight would go into the 14-day hotel quarantine.
“An aircrew member and Australian Open participant who is not a player have been transferred to a health hotel following positive test results for coronavirus,” Victoria state’s health department said about the Los Angeles flight.
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley issued a statement saying the 24 players who were on that flight will not be able to leave their hotels rooms for 14 days and until they are medically cleared.
Later Saturday, Tennis Australia said 23 players were among the 64 people on the flight from Abu Dhabi.
Novak Djokovic, above, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams are among a group of players involved in an exhibition event in Adelaide, South Australia state, on Jan. 29. Those players flew straight to Adelaide to begin their hotel quarantine period.
South Australia health officials “confirmed that there is no one who has an active COVID19 infection in the entire tennis cohort based in Adelaide,” the Australian Open said Saturday on Twitter.