Tennis: Australian Open to continue without crowds as Victoria goes into snap lockdown

MELBOURNE (REUTERS, AFP) - The Australian Open tennis tournament will proceed without crowds over the next five days, organisers said, after the state of Victoria was placed under a snap lockdown from Friday (Feb 12) to contain a fresh outbreak of Covid-19.

"Australian Open sessions today and tonight will continue as planned with Covid safe protocols in place," organisers said in a statement.

"We are notifying ticket holders, players and staff that there will be no fans onsite at the AO for five days, commencing from Saturday 13 February."

The players will enter a biosecure "bubble" from Saturday morning similar to ones that have operated at tournaments around the world for much of the last 12 months.

"They've been doing this all year," tournament director Craig Tiley told reporters at Melbourne Park.

"The last five days have been a unique experience for them and the next five will be back to what they know."

Premier Daniel Andrews of Victoria state, which includes Melbourne, said the tennis venue would be considered a "workplace" that can continue to function with limited staff.

The year's first Grand Slam opened on Monday with limited crowds due to existing virus restrictions, after players all underwent mandatory quarantine.

Melbourne's five million residents were ordered to stay at home for five days from midnight after a cluster of Covid cases leaked from a quarantine hotel at the city's airport.

Play was already under way on day five of the event on Friday when the announcement was made, with Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokvic all due on court.

The outbreak leaked from an airport hotel that was housing international travellers in mandatory quarantine and has so far infected 13 people, including staff and their families.

Overnight, it emerged that one infected person had spent several hours at a cafe in an airport terminal, potentially infecting individuals heading to other parts of Australia.

Andrews acknowledged that the spread of the outbreak had so far been limited to hotel staff and their families.

But he said the UK strain was "so hyper-infectious, and moves so fast, that it is presenting a very, very real challenge to our status, our stay-safe, stay-open, our precious thing that we've built".

Melbourne spent more than 100 days under lockdown last year to crush an earlier coronavirus outbreak that infected thousands and killed some 800 people. That lockdown ended in late October.

Two other Australian state capitals, Brisbane in the east and Perth in the west, recently underwent similar snap lockdowns in response to cases of the UK strain leaking from hotel quarantine.

In both instances, the outbreak was quickly contained.

Australia has been among the world's most successful countries in containing the coronavirus, with some 900 deaths for a population of 25 million.