MELBOURNE: Australia reported no new local coronavirus cases for a third day on Sunday, as tennis players geared up for the first Grand Slam of the year in Melbourne on Monday.
The Australian Open will have a reduced attendance of 30,000 fans a day, about 50% lower than usual because of COVID-19 protocols.
Those public health protocols, which have been credited with making Australia one of the most successful nations in battling the novel coronavirus, forced players into a two-week hotel quarantine upon their arrival in Melbourne in January.
On Sunday, players were finishing warm-up tournaments, with Danii Medvedev firing Russia to an ATP Cup win and world No. 1 Ash Barty beating Spain’s Garbine Muguruza to win the Yarra Valley Classic.
More than 500 staff and players tested negative for the coronavirus virus on Friday in re-testing required after a worker at their quarantine hotel caught the virus.
Nearly 1,200 close contacts of the infected worker have now tested negative to the…