Two more Australian Open players have tested positive for COVID-19, government officials said Wednesday, as authorities contradict each other over who would pay the tournament’s quarantine payment.
State Police Secretary Victoria Lisa Neville said two players and one non-playing Australian Open participant included three new infections reported Wednesday.
A total of 10 people involved in the Grand Slam, including four players, have now tested positive for the virus.
There has been some confusion over the exact figures, with authorities’ test results later reclassified as “viral shedding” from previous infections.
The viral shedders are not contagious.
Neville said authorities were “very certain” that one of the two new player infections was a case of viral shedding.
“It’s less clear that the other two are shedding. That will be worked out, and that’s a player and a backer,” Neville told reporters.
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said two players who tested positive on Tuesday were also viral shedders.
More than 70 players and their entourage are locked in their hotel rooms for 14 days and unable to train for the Australian Open from February 8-21 after passengers on three charter flights answer positive tests.
Authorities have released massive amounts of money to fly more than 1,200 players, coaches and officials on 17 charter flights to Australia to perform the first Grand Slam of the year.
Tiley said quarantine costs could exceed A $ 40 million, part of which would be covered by Victoria’s state government.
“The state government supports and helps that,” he told radio station 3AW on Wednesday.
Neville disputed that.
“I have confirmed three times that it will be fully funded again today by the Australian Open,” she said.
“The taxpayer does not contribute to the (Australian Open) hotel quarantine program.”
A number of players have complained about the conditions, prompting a fierce response from Australians, who have criticized the players for being ‘entitled’, even as thousands of the country’s citizens remain stranded abroad.
Kazakh Woman World No. 28 Yulia Putintseva complained of a plague of mice during her quarantine and said that the windows in her room could not be opened.
She later posted a video on Twitter about mice in her room.
there are actually many! Now not even 1 in my room ?? pic.twitter.com/uUaicOhoB5
– Yulia Putintseva (@PutintsevaYulia) January 19, 2021
Tiley said Tuesday that “the vast majority” of players support Australia’s strict protocols.