January 12: No new COVID cases, no border changes, but plans for quarantining inbound tennis stars
SA will maintain its border restrictions for now, but exemptions will be made for incoming elite tennis players who will have their own strict quarantine rules.
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Elite tennis players will be given VIP quarantine treatment on arrival to Adelaide this month, while border restrictions with NSW and Greater Brisbane remain unchanged for the time being.
South Australia’s Transition Committee discussed easing border rules on Tuesday afternoon but in light of new cases interstate decided to maintain the status quo. This may change after a meeting of national chief public health officers on Wednesday morning.
On a day when SA recorded no new cases, SA chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier revealed top tennis stars jetting into Adelaide will face strict quarantine rules including repeated tests, but will be given VIP treatment.
They will be in their own private medi-hotel, with access to train at Memorial Drive.
She said the accommodation met stringent standards required of medi-hotels but declined to name it for security and privacy issues such as fans seeking autographs.
“We don’t want people hanging around,” she said.
Professor Spurrier stressed the committee is keen to see border restrictions lifted and hope to have “more information in the next 24 hours.”
I would be feeling very confident to be able to open it sooner than later,” she said.
“But at the moment we are staying as is.
“We would be looking for that 14 days of no community transmission,” Professor Spurrier said regarding when SA would look to lift hard border restrictions to NSW.
That means anyone coming into SA from greater Brisbane is required to quarantine for 14 days. There is a hard border with NSW apart from a 100km “border bubble” buffer zone taking in Broken Hill and Wentworth.
SA will host “A Day at the Drive” at Memorial Drive on January 29. It will feature eight of the world’s best players, including Serena Williams, pictured, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. It will be followed by the Adelaide International WTA 500 tournament in late February for 70 top female players.
Tennis stars heading to Melbourne for the Australian Open face what Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville claimed would be the “strictest program in the world in terms of hotel quarantine for our tennis players”.
This would include daily tests, being restricted to hotel rooms and hotel emergency exits being rigged with alarms to stop any unauthorised escapades.
More than 1200 players and workers will arrive in Melbourne this week, with 15 charter flights to land from 5pm tomorrow.
The internationals will stay in three designated quarantine hotels in Melbourne – the Grand Hyatt, View Melbourne and Pullman at Albert Park.
Ms Neville said authorities were assuming “every single tennis player that arrives and their officials have the potential to be positive (for COVID-19)”.
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