Victoria residents will be required to stay home for at least five days.

The Australian Open, organized by Tennis Australia, began on February 8. As Australia has done an efficient job of flattening its COVID-19 curve, the stands of the event’s games over the last few days have had a decent number of spectators, with a maximum of 30,000 allowed at each event. However, due to recently detected COVID infections, the Premier of Victoria, where the games are held, is not willing to take any chances.

As Victoria Premier Dan Andrews reported today, 13 cases of the UK variant of COVID-19 were detected at a Holiday Inn in Melbourne, followed by five additional cases in the last 24 hours. As a cautionary measure, the entire state of Victoria will be undergoing a five-day lockdown starting today. All Victoria residents will be required to remain home for all but essential travel (grocery shopping, family care, etc.).

“It shows just how incredibly infectious this virus is. And our public health team tell us it’s only getting faster,” Andrews said during a press conference.

“But the most important thing you need to know is this: this is our opportunity — our brief window — to starve the virus of what it wants most. Movement,” Andrews said. “By limiting our movement, we limit the potential spread of the virus. And by going hard and going early — we’re giving ourselves every opportunity to get in front of this.”

Tennis Australia is determined to continue the Australian Open in spite of this, and as such, the games will continue. However, as all residents are confined to their homes, the spectator stands will be completely empty during this five-day period. Those who purchased tickets for the entire two-week run of the event will be receiving refunds. This new lockdown could cause friction between the organizers and athletes, who are already on bad terms due to the two-week quarantine that was enacted on all international athletes last month.