A Covid outbreak at Melbourne’s Holiday Inn hotel has forced returned travellers to be evacuated and 135 staff to quarantine for 14 days.
Two new cases linked to the hotel at Melbourne airport were unearthed on Tuesday, including a food and beverage worker and an already-released returned traveller.
The new cases brings the total associated with the Holiday Inn cluster to three – after a guard tested positive on Sunday.
Guests began being transferred to the Pullman Melbourne from 8am on Wednesday ‘to quarantine an extended number of days’.
The agency in charge of the quarantine program said the hotel was ‘closed until further notice for terminal cleaning, and with detailed contact tracing and investigations underway’.
‘All staff and residents at the hotel during the exposure period of January 27 and February 9 are considered primary close contacts and need to quarantine,’ the spokesperson said.
‘Approximately 135 staff across all programs at the hotel were stood down last night and instructed to quarantine for 14 days at home and get retested.
Guests began being transferred from the Holiday Inn (pictured) to the Pullman Melbourne from 8am on Wednesday morning to quarantine an extended number of days
The Victorian Department of Health announced a third case at Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport on Tuesday night, saying ‘interviews are underway’ to trace the worker’s movements
‘So that we can rule out any potential coronavirus transmission while investigations are continuing, CQV has informed 48 residents at the hotel that they are considered primary close contacts.
It’s expected the Holiday Inn will remain closed for at least a week while health authorities investigate the ventilation system.
The Andrews Government suspects the virus was transmitted through the air.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the cases are likely linked to a floor with Covid-positive guests – including a family of three – despite having no close contact.
‘Cases can happen anywhere, at any time, and they can happen without a breach of protocol or any particular errors being made,’ he said on Tuesday afternoon.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the cases are likely linked to a floor with Covid-positive guests, including a family of three, despite having no close contact
‘We are talking about an incredibly infectious virus. We have known that airborne transmission is possible.
‘The extent to which it occurs and how well you can reduce that risk … is a matter of ongoing review.’
He said health officials needed to continue to investigate every intervention possible to better protect hotel quarantine workers and guests.
‘All I can say is bring on the vaccine,’ he said.
Returned travellers from the same floor as the woman who left quarantine on Sunday must now go into isolation for another 14 days. Staff who worked on it will follow suit.
Meanwhile, two schools in Melbourne’s northwest have been shut down after seven nearby venues were listed as hotspots.
St Anne’s Catholic Primary School in Sunbury and Salesian College Sunbury were both closed on Wednesday.
The schools shut their gates to teachers and students as a ‘precautionary measure’ despite not being listed as public exposure sites.
Health authorities overnight issued a notice of several new exposure sites including Sunny Life Massage, Bakers Delight, Aldente Deli, Sushi Sushi and Asian Star – all in Sunbury Square Shopping Centre in Sunbury – as well as Cellarbrations and PJ’s Pet Warehouse also in Sunbury.
Earlier, Premier Daniel Andrews said the state had no choice but to ‘make the best of what we have’ in the face of mounting program criticism.
‘There’s no federal facilities that are going to pop up anytime soon,’ he told reporters.
It comes as NSW Health issued an updated alert for anyone who recently stayed or worked at the Holiday Inn to immediately get tested and self-isolate for two weeks, regardless of the result.
The alert applies to anyone who worked or stayed on any floor of the hotel between January 27 and 9 February 9 as they are now considered close contacts.
An earlier alert only applied to anyone who stayed or worked on the third floor.
‘Interviews with the individual are underway. Early indications are that the individual has not left her home since exiting Hotel Quarantine on February 7, other than to obtain a test in a CovidSafe setting,’ the Department of Health said.
The department said the woman tested negative on multiple instances during her quarantine at the hotel and left the facility on Sunday.
She then sought to be tested again in response to the current outbreak at the Holiday Inn and received a positive test on Tuesday.
At the Holiday Inn, guest arrangements on the affected floor have been pared back and Mr Sutton said authorities could close the hotel if the risk is found to extend beyond it
Health workers are seen testing people for Covid19 at Royal Melbourne Showgrounds on Monday
Those from the hotel who had just completed their quarantine on Sunday will be required to isolate again for another 14 days.
Twelve Australian Defence Force workers and nine police officers who worked at the hotel were among those who have been ordered into self-quarantine after the positive result.
Mr Sutton told reporters it appears the Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport cluster has originated from one floor.
‘[The investigation is] absolutely focused on that floor, and all the individuals who’ve been on that floor, staff or residents, are going to be in quarantine and go through the testing process,’ Professor Sutton said.
‘If there’s any indication that the risk extends beyond that floor, then it’s an option for us to close the hotel if need be.
‘The focus of our attention is on the transmission that might have occurred on the relevant floor where positive cases were known to be.’
Less than a week ago on February 3, a worker at Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt Hotel also became infected with the UK Covid variant – believed to be about 70 more contagious than the initial strain.
A law enforcement officer stands guard outside the Grand Hyatt hotel on February 4, 2021, as tennis players and officials arrive for a two-week quarantine period ahead of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne
Health workers are seen testing people for Covid-19 at Royal Melbourne Showgrounds on Monday
But the issue of recent hotel quarantine infection breaches has not limited to Melbourne.
Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth have all seen outbreaks spread within hotel quarantine facilities.
Hotel quarantine workers are continuing to catch the disease from infected returned travellers despite the strict measures in place.
Some public health experts are now calling for Australia’s mandatory hotel quarantine program to be overhauled.
Professor Adrian Esterman of the University of South Australia said hotels were not safe places to quarantine returned travellers.
‘They were not designed for this, and were only chosen because of the need to act fast,’ he told the Herald Sun.
‘Location in the middle of a city is not a good idea. Traditionally, quarantine stations have been located in remote areas for a very good reason. With a virus that can be transmitted by aerosol, the ventilation systems are a major problem,’ he added.
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