Three people in hotel quarantine associated with the Australian Open tennis tournament have tested positive for the highly transmissible coronavirus variant linked to the United Kingdom, officials said.

The three quarantined in Melbourne are not players, said the state agency responsible for quarantining overseas travellers. All have been in hard lockdown since their Jan 15 arrival, Reuters reported.

“Three quarantine residents associated with the Australian Open who tested positive for coronavirus have been found to have the UK variant of the virus,” Covid-19 Quarantine Victoria said in a statement.

As many as 72 players have been confined to their hotel rooms for two weeks upon arrival and unable to train for the Feb 8-21 event after passengers on three charter flights tested positive.