Australian Open biosecurity manager resigns weeks before the event begins

With the Australian Open set to begin in less than three weeks, there is still a feeling of chaos as biosecurity manager Tom McDowell for the first Grand Slam of the season has resigned from his post.

McDowell's job has been to develop a testing regime and the tournament's procedures around lowering the risk of players, coaches and support staff catching the virus. It is an unenviable task, considering a large number of competitors will be arriving from around the world to take part.

The state of Victoria, which will be hosting the competition, has had extremely strict Covid rules ever since the start of the pandemic. But just as players and their entourages arrive Down Under, tennis expert Ben Rothenberg reports McDowell has stepped down from his role.

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According to his LinkedIn page, McDowell's responsibilities included: "Overseeing the development of biosecurity protocols for each functional area and providing advice, guidance and instruction to all areas of the business relation to Biosecurity Operational implementation."

He was also required to "lead the development of CovidSafe procedures for each functional area, guiding and supporting managers to develop and implement processes which align with the goals of the CovidSafe plan".

Meanwhile, "defining the scope and requirements for Covid testing and/or vaccination programs to minimize the risk of an outbreak impacting the event" was also one of his jobs.