Australian Open 2021: Greek tennis player Michail Pervolarakis tests positive for COVID-19

Melbourne Park has been a ghost town but it may not be like that for much longer. Find out what the positive COVID test means from here.

Victorian health officials have given the Australian Open the green light to continue, saying they are not concerned by a positive case surrounding Greece ATP Cup player Michail Pervolarakis.

After Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley said earlier that the tournament would “continue on as normal”, Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton said available evidence pointed to Pervolarakis having picked up COVID-19 on his way to South Africa rather than in Melbourne.

Sutton said it could also be a case of a false positive test given the lesser accuracy of rapid testing in other countries.

Meanwhile, Tennis Australia remains hopeful of getting fans back on site when the Victorian lockdown ends.

“We are still hopeful of crowds returning from Thursday when the lockdown ends,” the governing body said in a statemetn to players.

“While we continue to work with the authorities towards this we have introduced some enhancements to the broadcast to give the fans at home a more realistic experience of the AO.”

Pervolarakis last night revealed he had tested positive for COVID-19 in South Africa but had left Melbourne five days earlier on Tuesday night, travelling via Doha in the virus-ravaged Middle East.

Michail Pervolarakis played ATP Cup with Stefanos Tsitsipas

“I don’t think so,” Sutton said on Sunday when asked if he was concerned about the positive result.

“We’ve had the circumstances before where we’ve had notification through the national focal point, again under the international health regulations, that means that countries identify other countries where they think that the virus might have originated. They’ve all been found to be not real results.

“There are countries that do rapid antigen testing. Not as sensitive, not as specific as the nasal nasopharyngeal PCR swabs that we do.

“This particular individual tested negative on the day of departure, but was on a long flight, mixed with other international travellers. Again, with a significant risk of cases, potentially, on the subsequent legs of that flight.

“We will go through the normal processes through the national incident room and go through all of the information that South Africa can provide and we’ll tie off those ends. But I don’t think it’s a real result.”

Victorian health minister Martin Foley said Pervolarakis had not also travelled through Melbourne Airport’s Terminal 4, which was this week declared an potential exposure site.

“As I understand it, the gentleman tested negative departing from the International Terminal, not Terminal 4,” Foley said.

“My understanding from reading the authoritative newspaper this morning is that his advice from his medical staff in South Africa is that he’s picked it up in the Middle East.”

In a statement sent to players today, Tennis Australia provided an update on where the latest health and safety protocols are at.

They also confirmed fans returning was a priority.

“We just wanted to provide an update on the ATP Cup player who tested positive upon arrival in South Africa.

“The player took an exit test on Monday 8 February which came back negative before boarding a flight to Doha on Tuesday. He was not at any exposure sites while in Melbourne and the Health Authorities have advised that no further actions are required at this time.

WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE TOURNAMENT?

Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley says the tournament will “continue on as normal” unless Victorian health authorities tell them otherwise, after being rocked by a COVID-19 scare.

Greece ATP Cup player Michail Pervolarakis last night revealed he had tested positive for COVID-19 in South Africa – five days after leaving Melbourne where he had been part of the ATP Cup and attended the Australian Open.

Pervolarakis tested negative to COVID-19 before leaving Melbourne and boarding a Qatar Airways flight to Doha on Tuesday night.

“He travelled to the Middle East and then in South Africa and after spending a day in South Africa, tested positive,” Tiley told Channel 9.

“We were notified by him of that and we now leave it up to the health authorities.

Australian Open chief Craig Tiley says the future of the tournament hangs on the advice of health officials. Picture: Saeed Khan/AFP

“We provided them with all the information yesterday and while there is a link in the fact that he left here, five days ago, it will be up to the advice of the health authorities like we’ve done every day.

“We just provide the information to them, they provide advice and make decisions.”

Tiley said there was a “fair bit of travel time” Pervolarakis spent in two “hotspots in the world” and the chance he became infected after leaving Melbourne was “fairly high”.

As the tournament pushes on, Tiley said players were only travelling to Melbourne Park from their place of residence and returning home since a five-day statewide lockdown was put in place at 11.59pm on Friday.

Greek player Michail Pervolarakis. Picture: Tennis Australia/Jay Town

Tiley said “normal procedures” would continue and close contacts of Pervolarakis including fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas – who has a fourth-round match tomorrow – would not be target tested.

“We will continue on normal,” Tiley said.

“Anyone on site that has any symptoms related to COVID is required to immediately isolate and test.

“We haven’t had any of that. We will go through the normal procedures and take the advice from health (authorities).

“If they want us to have more people tested, we will do that.

“At this point, there’s been no indication about.”

Victoria on Sunday morning announced two new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19.

Premier Daniel Andrews is yet to hold a media conference to provide an update on the situation.

How Pervolarakis sounded the alarm

Greece ATP Cup player Michail Pervolarakis revealed he’s tested positive for COVID-19 after travelling from Australia to South Africa.

He flew out of Melbourne Airport on February 9 – the same day a person infected with coronavirus worked at Brunetti cafe in Terminal 4, sparking the latest coronavirus lockdown.

The Herald Sun understands Pervolarakis was tested in Melbourne on Monday and received a negative result on Tuesday.

But Pervolarakis flew out of a different terminal on a Qatar Airways flight.

He flew out of Melbourne on Tuesday evening on a flight to Doha, stopping there before continuing to Johannesburg.

Pervolarakis during a press conference prior to the ATP Cup. Picture: Fiona Hamilton

Tennis Australia confirmed to the Herald Sun that the 24-year-old tested negative for the coronavirus on February 9 before he left Melbourne.

The case has cast a shadow over the future of the Australian Open and last night the state government would not comment on the development when informed by the Sunday Herald Sun.

Pervolarakis’s teammates in the ATP Cup included world No.6 Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is into the last 16 at the Australian Open.

In a late-night message on social media Pervolarakis posted: “After a 24-plus hour travel day from Australia to South Africa I’ve been diagnosed positive to COVID-19.

“I am completely asymptomatic at the moment and will have to quarantine in an isolation facility in Potchefstroom. He updated his Instagram a couple of hours later, saying: “Just to clarify a few things … got tested negative in Melbourne before leaving and the nurse said that I most likely got it on the plane or on my stop in Doha”.

“I am not a person that complains but I feel that I need to express my disappointment with the conditions we are in.”

A smiling Pervolarakis was photographed by the Herald Sun on February 1 with ATP teammates Stefanos Tsitsipas, Markos Kalovelonis and Petros Tsitsipas at Melbourne’s Greek restaurant, Stalictites, in Lonsdale Street.

Pervolarakis’ last match in Melbourne was on Friday, February 5.

He lost both of his singles matches against Australia’s John Millman and Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta at Melbourne Park.

Pervolarakis announced he had tested positive to COVID-19 on Instagram.

The Victorian Department of Health’s website says the COVID-19 incubation time ranges from one to 14 days.

The virus has “ a median incubation period of five to six days” the website says.

An infected person worked at Brunetti cafe in Melbourne Airport on February 9.

The cafe is listed on the Victorian Health Department’s exposure sites website.

It has been declared a Tier 1 exposure site, meaning anyone who was there during the exposure period must get a test and isolate for 14 days.

The exposure time is listed as from 4.45am to 1.15pm on February 9.

It’s feared many people could have been exposed to the virus at the airport that day before flying interstate and abroad.