Alert in Melbourne.
Five days before the start of the Australian Open (February 8 to 21), several hundred players and accredited people have just been placed in solitary confinement on the night of Wednesday to Thursday.
All those concerned resided or reside in the Grand Hyatt hotel - one of the three that was used to quarantine players and followers - and are considered to be contact cases of an employee of the establishment tested positive.
A journalist for the daily L'Equipe on site in Australia mentions the figure of 5 to 600 people.
Tests will be carried out immediately to possibly detect new cases.
The sanitary bubble and quarantine put in place before the first Grand Slam tournament of the year was intended to prevent the importation of the virus.
In a country where the Covid-19 epidemic has been relatively under control (900 deaths to date), the organization of the Australian Open had made people cringe among the population unwilling to see the players and their staff bring the virus in their luggage.
The Prime Minister of the state of Victoria Daniel Andrews, where the city of Melbourne is located, immediately took drastic decisions to limit the epidemic as much as possible.
Wearing a mask is now compulsory statewide and gatherings of more than 15 people are prohibited.
This last measure questions while the courts and stands of Melbourne Park must welcome tens of thousands of spectators every day as of Monday.
Victoria Premier Dan Andrews announces a hotel quarantine worker involved in the Australian Open quarantine program at the Grand Hyatt tested positive.
- Stuart Fraser (@stu_fraser) February 3, 2021
All games scheduled for Thursday in Melbourne have already been canceled.