Australian Open in doubt after positive Covid case in players’ hotel
Organisers say the Australian Open tennis championship should go ahead as planned despite a positive case in a hotel used to quarantine players.
The Covid case of a hotel worker led to the cancellation of Thursday’s warm-up matches at Melbourne Park and all guests at the Grand Hyatt Hotel are being tested again as a precaution.
More than 150 guests staying at the hotel are players.
The positive case has been identified as the UK Covid strain.
Tournament director Craig Tiley said: "We’re absolutely confident the Australian Open will go ahead."
Victoria State Premier Dan Andrews was less sure.
He said there were ‘no guarantees’ it would go ahead.
"At this stage, the tennis shouldn’t be impacted by this (but) things can change."
"We don’t want to see a situation as we did with the Grand Prix, where crowds were literally turning up, only to be turned away," he told the Herald Sun newspaper.
"I think people are entitled to know what’s happening, and the government should be making their minds up in the next 24 to 48 hours."
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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