A fourth Covid-19 infection was recorded among passengers on two charter flights carrying players to Melbourne for the Australian Open, Covid-19 Quarantine Victoria Commissioner Emma Cassar announced on Sunday.
A member of a broadcast team on the flight carrying 24 players from Los Angeles had tested positive, adding to a crew member and a coach on the same plane who tested positive earlier. The other case was a coach on a charter flight carrying 23 players from Abu Dhabi.
All 47 players affected are required to quarantine for two weeks. They will not be able to leave their hotel rooms for the 14-day period and until they are medically cleared.
The quarantine commissioner also said there had been a “small few” people within the tennis competition's quarantine hotels who were “testing our procedures.”
"A player who opened his door to try to have a conversation with his training mate down the hallway,” Cassar said. "The other was another gentleman who shouted some UberEats to some other people on the floor and was praising himself for his great efforts and opened his door to do so."
"It is really low-level but really dangerous acts which we just can't tolerate,” Cassar said. One of the two people mentioned was a player, and they have been warned, she added.
Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley confirmed on Sunday that the year’s first Grand Slam will go ahead.
“The Australian Open is going ahead and we will continue to do the best we possibly can do to ensure those players have what is not a great situation, one that is somewhat acceptable,” Tiley told Australia’s Nine Network on Sunday. “We are reviewing the schedule leading in to see what we can do to assist these players."