Icon: enlarge
At the Australian Open, spectators should also be admitted
Photo:
Hamish Blair / AP
After a positive Corona test result in a hotel in Melbourne, hundreds of tennis professionals, officials and employees of the Australian Open have to go into domestic isolation.
This was announced by the Prime Minister of the responsible state of Victoria, Dan Andrews.
In total, there are around 500 to 600 affected people.
It is currently not known how many players are affected.
According to Andrews, an employee in one of the quarantine hotels in Melbourne is said to have been infected with the corona virus.
It is said to be a 26-year-old man who was apparently found to have the British mutation of the virus.
A total of around 1000 people from the tennis environment were accommodated in several hotels in Melbourne.
They had gone into a 14-day quarantine there.
According to Andrews, the Australian Open, which is due to start next Monday, is not yet affected.
But the six preparation tournaments currently running in Melbourne are likely.
The first Grand Slam tournament of the year was postponed by three weeks due to the corona pandemic and is to be watched by up to 30,000 spectators on the facility every day.
"This is a unique case, there is no need for people to panic or be alarmed," said Andrews, who announced, however, that the state of Victoria will revert to previously ended restrictions.
For example, the wearing of masks indoors will be ordered again in the coming weeks.
Otherwise, the players report an unusually normal life with open restaurants and lively streets.
In Victoria, the number of infections is currently very low.
The organizers and Andrews were therefore criticized because the risk of re-circulation would increase due to the high number of travelers from abroad.
The critics now see themselves confirmed, Andrews hopes to get the outbreak under control.
"We have proven as a state that we are very successful in dealing with these types of outbreaks and problems."
Icon: The mirror
krä / sid