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MELBOURNE:
Two coronavirus infections were reported on Saturday on a flight to the Australian Open, forcing two weeks of strict quarantine at the hotel for all tennis players and entourage on board.
The positive cases were recorded after the Los Angeles charter flight landed in Melbourne for the tennis Grand Slam.
Health officials in the state of Victoria, where Melbourne is the capital, said that a crew member and an Australian Open participant who is not a player was transferred to a health hotel after test results for the new coronavirus were positive.
“Passengers who have been designated as close contacts will not be able to access the training and will undergo a standard 14-day quarantine period,” said a Covid-19 Quarantine Victoria representative.
In quarantine, players must train indoors, rather than being allowed outside for five hours of training per day, part of the conditions that allowed the event to go ahead.
“Unfortunately, the health authorities have informed us that two people on their LAX flight AR7493 that arrived at 5.15am on Friday, January 15, tested positive for PCR for Covid-19 upon arrival in Melbourne,” said a message published on Instagram by the Mexican agency Santiago González, who is ranked 48th in the doubles circuit.
“From having 5 hours of training in a bubble to this … (strict quarantine x 15 days). I will be showing you my trainings x Instagram (inside the room),” Uruguayan world number 68 Pablo Cuevas said on Twitter.
The news was first reported by The Age newspaper.
Australia has agreed to accept some 1,200 players, officials and staff on 15 flights for the major sporting event that will begin next month. Tennis officials could not immediately comment.
Other players cited by local media as likely to be on the flight include Tennys Sandgren, who was granted special permission to travel from Los Angeles late last week after testing positive for the new coronavirus, which he had had. previously, and world doubles player 13 Victoria. Azarenka from Belarus.
Former Scottish world number one Andy Murray revealed that he tested positive for Covid-19 last week, but said he was in good health and still hoped to compete. American Madison Keys withdrew last week after testing positive.
AUSTRALIAN CASES
The incoming infections came as Australia recorded a single locally acquired case and when states began to relax travel bans on signs that an outbreak had been contained in the northern state of Queensland.
The case, in western Sydney, is believed to be linked to a known group in New South Wales, the most populous state, health officials said.
Australia has halved the number of returning travelers it will accept, to reduce the risk of highly infectious strains leaking into the community, as happened at a site in Queensland two weeks ago.
Emirates Airline said on Friday it would suspend flights between Dubai and Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane early next week until further notice.
Queensland has logged two weeks since its last hotel outbreak, fueling hopes that it has been contained. As a result, the states of Victoria and South Australia will reopen the state’s borders on Sunday.
Australia, which recorded 20 infections in hotel quarantine overnight, has been one of the most successful nations in the world in managing the spread of the coronavirus, with around 28,700 infections and 909 deaths.
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