Australian Open to have up to 30,000 spectators a day

Agencies | Sydney

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Crowds of up to 30,000 people per day will be allowed to attend the Australian Open, Victoria's Minister for Sport Martin Pakula said on Saturday.

"It will be the most significant international event with crowds that the world has seen for many many months," Pakula said in a televised statement.

The minister said that for the first eight days of the grand slam, capacity at Melbourne Park will be capped at 30,000 spectators across day and night sessions, while in the last six days that number will go down to 25,000 daily, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

"That means at Rod Laver Arena, as we get towards the end of the tournament, we'll have an incredible atmosphere, not that different to the atmosphere that we've seen in all the Opens in the years past," the minister said.

Pakula said that the caps will mean that up to 390,000 people will attend the slam at Melbourne Park. "That's about 50 per cent of the average over the last three years," he added.

The Melbourne grand slam starts on February 8, three weeks later than usual due to the coronavirus pandemic.

There are currently 23 active Covid-19 cases in isolation across Victoria, with just one new case identified over the past 24 hours. Pakula said that the case is unrelated to the Australian Open and was already in hotel quarantine.

The state, once the country's coronavirus hotspot, on Saturday, recorded its 24th consecutive day with no new locally acquired Covid-19 cases.

Players travelling to Australia to compete in the slam had to undergo a two-week quarantine on arrival in the country, with most granted an exemption to train outside for several hours a day.

Many competitors and their entourages were placed into stricter isolation, unable to leave their hotel rooms at all, after several people on three Australian Open charter flights tested positive for Covid-19.

There have been complaints from some players about the conditions and then having to play a slam, with some also saying they weren't aware that a hard quarantine was mandatory for everyone on a flight with people who tested positive.

Other players, including seven-time Australian Open singles champion Serena Williams, praised the efforts put in to make the slam happen safely.

"When we come here in Australia everyone has to quarantine in a room for 14 days, and it's insane and it's super intense but it's super good because after that you can have a new normal," she told US television show The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

"They are doing it right... it's worth it, because you want everyone to be safe at the end of the day."

Melbourne had been placed under one of the world's longest and harshest lockdowns when new daily infections were topping 700. The city of 4.9 million residents was under "stay at home" orders for 112 days last year.

Australia, a nation of around 25 million people, has recorded around 28,800 coronavirus cases and 900 deaths since the start of the pandemic - a significantly lower per capita rate than most developed countries.

The country has taken a strict lockdown approach, alongside a system of rigorous testing and tracing to contain the virus.