A Tennis Australia chartered flight from Abu Dhabi carrying Australian Open players, coaches and officials will head into hard quarantine for two weeks after a member tested positive for covid-19. This news broke just hours after the members of the flight from Los Angeles were sent into hard quarantine as a crew member and another member had tested positive.
It is known that the flight carried some well known players such as Bianca Andreescu, Kerber, Kuznetsova, Jabeur, Kostyuk, Bencic, Sakkari. An Instagram post from Ukrainian tennis player, Marta Kostyuk revealed that the flight from Abu Dhabi which landed in Melbourne on Friday morning, had a member who tested positive for the coronavirus.
Will the covid-19 positive tests disrupt the Australian Open quarantine schedule?
Earlier in the day, the light from Los Angeles had two members who tested positive for the coronavirus. The two affected members were sent to a health hotel which is designated specially for covid positive cases. Rest of the flight attendees will have to undergo a hard quarantine for 14 days, which means the players on the flight will not be able to train during their quarantine.
Tennis Australia confirmed that the 23 players would be sent into isolation after a covid positive test was recorded on the flight from Abu Dhabi.
“The Chief Health Officer has reviewed the flight and has determined that everyone on board needs to isolate and will be confined to their rooms for the 14-day quarantine period,” the email from Australian Open officials to Kostyuk read.
“We are aware of the major impact this has on your preparation for the Australian summer and (we) are going to do everything we can to mitigate this impact,” the statement added.
Ben Rothenberg, a renowned tennis journalist tweeted the email sent to Kostyuk and described the situation as a mess. The players on the two flights will certainly be impacted as they will neither be allowed out of their rooms nor allowed to practice during the two weeks of hard quarantine.
Also Read: One crew member among the two positive Covid tests to impact Australian Open quarantine program
