The public capacity will be limited to 50% to prevent the propagation of the coronavirus, while the Melbourne region has a soaring contamination.
Le Monde with AFP
The public capacity at the Tennis Australian Open will be limited to 50% due to an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the Melbourne region, announced Thursday The Government of the State of Victoria.
“This Rule Update for the Australian Open means that the public, players and staff will be able to expect an extremely safe event,” said the Minister of Tourism of the State, Jaala Pulford, in a press release.
For this first Grand Slam tournament of the year, which begins on Monday, the port of the mask will be mandatory for the spectators, except to eat and to drink, and the rules of distancing will have to be respected inside.
The spell of Djokovic still suspended
In 2021, similar rules had been put in place. But a five-day confinement decreed in Melbourne due to a revival of the epidemic had forced the organizers to play most closed doors. Finally, small groups of spectators had been admitted to the Melbourne Park sports complex.
Thursday, the State of Victoria recorded 953 patients with hospitalized COVID-19, a record number, and more than 220,000 cases of ongoing contamination. Except as possible exemption, staff members and players have an obligation to be completely vaccinated against COVID-19. The vast majority is, but the world’s number one Novak Djokovic is not, which has provoked a global incident for one week.
The participation of the Serbian at the Australian Open remains unresolved. At first repressed at the border and placed in the retention center, the holding of the title was released a few days later on a decision of a judge. But the Australian government has not excluded from expel it, by virtue of its discretion.