Australian Open preparations interrupted after hotel quarantine worker contracts COVID-19

Australian Open organisers are scrambling to test hundreds of people after a hotel quarantine worker in Melbourne contracted COVID-19.

Preparations for the Australian Open are set to be heavily impacted after a hotel quarantine worker in Melbourne contracted COVID-19 on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday evening, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed a 26-year-old man from Noble Park had tested positive for coronavirus.

The man served as a resident support officer at the Grand Hyatt as part of the Australian Open quarantine program.

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According to Andrews, about 500 to 600 people involved in the grand slam — including players and officials — are classified as casual contacts, and will be required to isolate until they test negative.

A COVID-19 case has been identified in a worker at an Australian Open quarantine hotel, the Grand Hyatt Melbourne. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

“There are about 500 or 600 people that are either players and officials and others who are casual contacts,” Andrews said.

“They will be isolating until they get a negative test, and that work will be done tomorrow.

“So it may have an impact on tomorrow’s play in the lead-up event. But at this stage, there’s no impact to the tournament proper.

“That’s important to us, but the issues we’re most focused on is much broader, and that’s about public health and public safety. That’s why we’ve really pounced on this very quickly.

“We’ve got one case. We’re going to work very hard to keep numbers as low as we possibly can. Decisions have been made, and we’ll proceed as we can next week.”

Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Health and Aged Care Martin Foley.

this better be one hell of a tennis tournament..

— Corbin Middlemas (@CorbinMiddlemas) February 3, 2021

Confirmed: the new covid case in Melbourne is related to the #AusOpen. It's a guard that was working in one of the tennis quaratine hotels.

Victoria PM avoids panic. "This is one case".

— José Morgado (@josemorgado) February 3, 2021

RE #AUSOPEN:
500-600 players/ officials are casual contacts who must get tested and quarantine until they get a result.

Likely to impact the lead up events the next couple of days.

No change to #ausopen as it stands tonight... Will go ahead.

— Shane McInnes (@shanemcinnes) February 3, 2021

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There are currently six tennis tournaments running at Melbourne Park ahead of the 2021 Australian Open, with several matches scheduled for Thursday.

Several players only emerged from a 14-day hard quarantine last weekend, and some may now be required to briefly self-isolate once again.

The infected man visited a number of sites in Victoria, including Club Noble in Noble Park, Aces Sporting Club Keysborough, North Point Cafe in Brighton, Kmart Keysborough, Coles Springvale and Bunnings Springvale.

Andrews said everyone who may have been exposed to the virus must get tested first thing in the morning, with testing sites open from 8am to meet demand. Authorities are also speaking to the man’s close contacts and some will be tested overnight.