Australian Open officials seek to assure Victorians over COVID-19 fears

Australian Open officials say there’s “no reason” why the tournament won’t go ahead.

It comes amid concerns Victoria’s latest case of COVID-19 potentially caught the coronavirus at the MCG on day two of the Boxing Day Test.

Others have voiced worry about the possible risk of international players bringing COVID-19 into Australia ahead of the tournament.

“We are not going to put an event on that is going to be unsafe for the community,” tournament director Craig Tiley assured Victorians on 3AW Mornings.

“Clearly, if there is significant community spread at the time, the government will make decisions on reducing those (crowd) numbers, or not.

“Those are the things we’ve got to be ready to change at any point.”

He said the “worst case” scenario would be playing matches in front of no fans.

Mr Tiley said no player would be allowed onto a flight to Australia without first testing negative to COVID-19.

Players will be tested again as soon as they arrive and repeatedly during their 14 days of quarantine.

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