The residents think that the management of the Westin Melbourne hotel has secretly settled the quarantine, which they now want to stop.

- It is incredibly arrogant to go behind our backs in this way, as if the agreement were ready.

There are clear public health and legal issues that have not even been investigated, says Mark Nicholson, who has long been an apartment owner in the property, to Fairfax Media.

Mandatory quarantine

Hundreds of tennis players are expected to land in Melbourne in mid-January to have time for a 14-day mandatory quarantine before the competitions begin.

- I am 84 years old and belong to a risk group and the way they have tried to get through this is shocking, says apartment owner Digby Lewis to Fairfax.

The management of Westin says that they have communicated their "covid-proof" plan to the owners' association and that the residents will have no contact with either staff or guests, as they will use a separate entrance and other elevators.

Tennis Australia, which hosts the Australian Open, has so far not commented on the residents' proposals, according to the news agency Reuters.

Large eruption

Australia's second largest city Melbourne and its state of Victoria were hit in July by the largest outbreak of covid-19 in Australia to date.

In total, more than 18,000 people were infected and almost 800 died during the outbreak.

Since then, the infection has been curbed and on Monday only three new cases were reported in the state, all linked to an outbreak in Sydney.

CLIP: Djokovic champion for the eighth time in Melbourne (02 February 2020)

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Novak Djokovic once again got to kiss the Australian Open trophy.

Photo: Manan Vasyayana / AFP / TT