During the regular COVID-19 Press Conference Premier David Burt stated that Stage 4 for Sports will be delayed further.
Premier Burt said, “The Government is keen to get sports to Return to Play in full, and we appreciate everyone’s patience as the country battled the pandemic and got the latest outbreak under control. Contact sports can be a high-risk setting when it comes to COVID transmission, so we have to be cautious in allowing a return to play in case there are any latent cases in the community that we have not detected which could lead to renewed outbreaks.
Saliva testing to participate in close-contact training will commence this week, starting with the sports with the largest proportion of registrants. On Thursday and Friday, we will be testing the football national team players, and domestic clubs next week. Volleyball, which has 100% registration, will test on Saturday and Sunday. Next week further sports will be rolled out.
The Government encourages all close-contact sports athletes aged 11 years or older, wishing to participate in Stage 3 training to register for saliva COVID testing as soon as possible so that a testing date can be set up for your sport.
While we had initially contemplated commencing Stage 4 of sports this week, due to the slow take-up of testing registrations and logistical delays in rolling out the testing, we will have to wait a little longer for Stage 4 (contact sports competitive play) to begin.
Realistically we can’t safely allow a contact sport to go to Stage 4 with only a small proportion of athletes testing, so I encourage all contact sport players aged 11 and older to register today. Your sporting body has been sent the link for your registration, and it is a very quick and easy process.”
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