A total of 47 players competing in the Australian Open will be forced to remain in their hotel rooms for 14 days following three positive Covid-19 tests. Two people on a chartered flight carrying 24 players – travelling from Los Angeles, according to the BBC – returned positive swabs upon their arrival in Melbourne. On a later flight from Abu Dhabi, a sole passenger on a plane carrying 23 players also returned a positive result.
Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services has said the three infected people are not players. The world’s top players began arriving in the country on a series of charter jets on Thursday ready for a two-week quarantine period, during which they will be allowed out of their rooms to practise for five hours a day.
But those players and support staff on the affected flights will now be confined to their rooms for a fortnight. The Australian Open begins on 8 February, meaning those players on the affected flights will be restricted to little more than a week of practice.