January 18 Four more players participating in the Australian Open were diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, Reuters reported on the 18th.
At present, the health department of Victoria, Australia, has reported nine confirmed cases of arriving in Melbourne on Australian Open charter flights to participate in the February 8-21 competition.
Victoria Governor Daniel Andrews told reporters: “The four new confirmed cases are all related to the Australian Open and are now placed in hotel quarantine.”
It is reported that the passengers of three Australian Open charter flights have been forcibly quarantined, including more than 70 competitors.
Affected by this, they were unable to train for 14 days before the Australian Open began.
Brett Sutton, chief health officer of Victoria, believes that the current positive cases may have been exposed to the virus before boarding the plane, and tests in the next few days will find out whether anyone has been infected on the plane.” This is why strict regulations must be imposed on players and accompanying personnel, and all international immigrants are treated equally.
According to the report, due to the increasing number of infections, relevant experts have begun to call for the cancellation of this year’s Australian Open.
Neil Mitchell, anchor of Australia’s 3AW radio station, said: “Now is the time to be selfish.
Victoria needs to put itself first. Cancel the Australian Open. It’s not worth taking the risk.
However, Craig Tiley, director of the Australian Open, said on the 17th that the Australian Open will be held as scheduled, but the management of the event will consider making some adjustments to help players who cannot train normally due to isolation.
Andrews said that the government will still support the holding of the Grand Slam, while also helping the health department to run the game safely.
We have found a balance.
“We wouldn’t have had this event if the public health team thought the risk was too high to make it possible to do both worlds.”
