Australia’s Winter Olympics preparations will continue with minimal fuss in northern Italy despite two members of staff testing positive for COVID-19.
The team, building towards of the Milano Cortina Games which begins this week, received the news at the Australian Institute of Sport’s European Training Centre (ETC) in Gavirate, about an hour’s drive from Milan, on Sunday.
The individuals, who will not be competing at the 25th edition of the Olympic Winter Games, were symptomatic and tested positive on January 28 and 31, with measures in place to contain any possible spread of infection.
“The Australian Winter Olympic team has medical protocols in place for any infectious disease or illness and are standard operating procedures for high-performance environments which are being followed,” chef de mission and former aerial skier Alisa Camplin said.
“Such protocols have been in place for past Olympics, including the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
“Alternative plans have been put into place for those scheduled to arrive into the ETC over the next 48 hours.”
Close contacts of the two positive cases were immediately tested. They returned negative results and were administered anti-virals.
Fifty-three men and women will compete in green and gold, the second-largest Australian team ever and the largest for 12 years.
AAP
