Australian Open to allow 7,500 centre court fans
- par Carole Baillairge
- dans Divertissement
- — Fév 18, 2021
The number of cases swelled to 19, but no new infections were reported on Wednesday.
But masks will still be mandatory indoors, and will be required outdoors where people can not maintain 1.5m physical distancing.
Public outdoor gatherings are also limited to 20 people, down from 30.
Funerals and weddings will no longer have restrictions except for venue density limits, and religious gatherings and ceremonies will be able to resume.
Excited fans drifted back to the Australian Open Thursday after a snap five-day lockdown in Melbourne was eased, determined to create some atmosphere over the final days of a tournament severely disrupted by the coronavirus.
Victoria's five-day lockdown was announced last week amid fears the highly-infectious United Kingdom strain of COVID-19 had spread from the Holiday Inn quarantine hotel at Melbourne Airport into the community.
The outbreak now stands at 19 cases, while nearly 3,500 close contacts remain in isolation.
Face maks will still be mandatory both outside and inside, with Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton explaining that maks have "almost certainly stopped some transmission that would have occurred otherwise".
"We do not rule those out but if we do see those, it is likely to be in the personal close contacts of family members, of associated households who have been isolated and quarantining for some substantial period now".
He encouraged Victorians to keep getting tested for the virus if they have "any symptoms at all".
"The only reason we get the players here is because we offer a lot of prizemoney and we spend a lot of time pursuing them to come".
"But if it goes beyond that, we'll be up for that".
South Australia dropped its border restrictions with regional Victoria from 12.01 on Thursday morning but restrictions on Greater Melbourne will remain in place.
Tournament organisers said they expected crowds would be back on Thursday and would make a full statement later on Wednesday after the details were worked out.
There were two new local COVID-19 cases in Victoria yesterday.
The lockdown in Victoria, Australia's second-most populous state, was sparked by the discovery of COVID-19 cases in a Melbourne quarantine hotel.
