The AFL is aware that a person who attended the Sunday May 23 match at the Marvel Stadium between Essendon and North Melbourne has since tested positive to COVID-19.

All patrons who were sitting on Level 1 in-between Aisles 5 and 28 or Level 3 in-between Aisles 6 and 29 are being contacted by the Victorian Government and asked to immediately get tested and isolate until they receive a negative test.

The Department of Health are also asking anyone else who attended the game and were seated outside of the area’s listed to monitor for symptoms and to get tested if symptoms develop.

The AFL, in conjunction with all AFL venues nationally, have ensured each match has a COVIDSafe Event Plan that is endorsed by the relevant State Department of Health. Each plan has specific measures in place to reduce any potential risk, including the sectioning of grounds to limit patron movement and implementation of both ticketing data capture and QR code scans for efficient contact tracing purposes.

The AFL and the Marvel Stadium have prepared for this situation in multiple simulations, with contact information linked to ticketing data and QR codes.

The announcements on contact tracing today is a reminder why the AFL and various Governments worked to develop measures that prioritised the health and wellbeing of fans and allowed the speedy identification of all patrons attending each match in the event of a positive test.

Marvel Stadium undertakes cleaning of the venue after each match and, out of an abundance of caution, a deep clean of the identified zone is now being undertaken.

We remind all fans attending this week’s round of matches to ensure they scan the QR code in stadiums to further assist with the ongoing management of the pandemic.