Melbourne (AFP)
All tennis players and accredited people tested for Covid-19 following a positive case in a hotel before the Australian Open have tested negative, organizers announced on Friday.
"All the tests carried out yesterday (...) were negative", according to a tweet from the official tournament account.
The six preparatory competitions for the Australian Open resumed on Friday with a very busy schedule and formats adapted to make up for lost time.
A total of 507 people had to undergo the tests and were forced to isolate themselves in a hotel room while they received the results.
The meetings were canceled Thursday before resuming Friday.
The half a thousand people tested had passed their isolation at the Grand Hyatt, an employee of which tested positive on Wednesday.
They were forced to isolate themselves - again after a more or less strict first quarantine of 14 days on their arrival in Australia - in a hotel room while awaiting their result.
Despite the setback, Open director Australian Greg Tiley said he was confident that spectators could attend the preliminaries this week and the Australian Open which is due start Monday.
“The site will be an extremely safe place,” Greg Tiley promised.
"There are controls, contact tracing, physical distancing," he said.
Some 25,000 to 30,000 spectators are expected to attend the Australian Open each day.
Until the discovery of a positive case in a hotel employee, the state of Victoria had not recorded any local cases of coronavirus for 28 days.
As a result of this new contamination, restrictions have been tightened on wearing a mask in particular.
© 2021 AFP