As someone living in Melbourne and having lived through one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, it comes as no surprise that the government is not budging on 14 day quarantine for the F1 circus. Looks like we've come full circle and having a 2nd cancellation/delay of the Aus Grand Prix.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/154434/2021-f1-australian-gp-set-to-be-postponed
Australia has taken a strict approach towards limiting the spread of COVID-19 since the outbreak, closing its borders to non-residents shortly after the F1 race was cancelled in March.
Strict quarantine rules have been in place since March, forcing all arrivals in Australia and those moving between states to spend two weeks in designated quarantine hotels.
There are currently 279 active cases estimated in Australia, while there have been 909 total deaths reported resulting from COVID-19.
Melbourne is currently preparing to host its first major international event almost a year, staging the Australian Open tennis grand slam tournament from 8-21 February.
The Victorian State Government has already confirmed that all players taking part in the tournament must adhere to the two-week quarantine upon arrival in Australia to "ensure the safety of all parties".
909 lives lost is of course a terrible tragedy for victims, families, & friends, and many more will of course have suffered with symptoms of the virus, but those figures really do put the UK to shame. Aware of course that the Australian population is a few million over 1/3rd of the UK's and that population density presumably factors (though Australia must have massive swathes of uninhabited land), but still...!
Given that the tennis looks set to go ahead, are we to presume that this is an F1 decision and that 'the sport' as a collective simply see the quarantine period as impractical?
