Victorian government reveals quarantine hotel details

If a player or staff member tests positive they will be moved to a room at the Holiday Inn and isolated from other players.

“This is a tough, a strict program. It’s the toughest in the country, in the world,” Ms Neville said.

“We are assuming that every single tennis player and their official has the potential to be positive.”

Each player and their one support person will be subject to daily tests.

Ms Neville said Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has signed off on the arrangements.

She said Victoria Police and event staff would be managing the hotel quarantine program for competitors in the Australian Open, not private security companies.

“During the quarantine program, the quarantine area is managed by the event services officers and by Victoria Police,” Ms Neville said.

News of the influx of players and officials arriving in Melbourne comes hours after Australians were booted off repatriation flights as a result of national cabinet’s decision to temporarily lower the cap on international arrivals.

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The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade emailed people over the weekend telling them they can no longer be accommodated on flights back to Australia this week.

She said the state government would look at increasing the cap on the number of people able to travel to Australia from overseas after the Open had been conducted.

“I understand people want to get home, at the moment we’re not meeting the cap each day,” Ms Neville said, “we’re looking at … how we’ll slowly increase that, after the Australian Open.”

“We’ve been in planning for this for many months.

“We’ve made a decision, some months ago, that the Australian Open could be done safely.

Ms Neville said the two-week program would “ensure the future” of the event for Victorians.