MELBOURNE - Australian Open players and their entourages will begin exiting COVID-19 quarantine on Thursday after spending two weeks strictly confined to a biosecurity hub.

The first group of 960 players, coaches and officials will exit from 6 p.m. local time (0700 GMT) with the rest to leave over the coming days, COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria (CQV) said in a statement.

CQV said it had not recorded any new COVID-19 infections among the Australian Open cohort on Thursday. There remained a total of five active cases.

Spain's Paula Badosa was the first player to reveal she had contracted the virus when she tested positive on her seventh day in quarantine. She was moved to a "health hotel" last Thursday to begin two more weeks of isolation. 

(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford) ((ian.ransom@thomsonreuters.com; +61 3 9286 1447;))