Private security guards have been stood down and replaced by police at one of Melbourne’s remaining quarantine hotels.
The security guards employed by Spotless were subcontracted as floor monitors at the Novotel in Southbank to check and report potential breaches to police.
A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokeswoman confirmed to NCA NewsWire the Spotless staff were pulled from the “health hotel” site on Tuesday and replaced by police.
The move to replace them with police came after the State Government was alerted to a healthcare worker’s concerns that showed similar failings to the first quarantine program that rapidly spread to cause Victoria’s second coronavirus wave, The Age reported.
The justice department said the Spotless roles were always envisaged to be temporary and police already had a 24-hour presence at the sites for resident supervision.
Spotless were also engaged in other customer service roles at the quarantine hotels, including grocery bag and identification checks. Department of Justice and Community Safety staff will now complete those tasks.
The spokeswoman said measures were under way to increase training and infection control standards for the remaining Spotless cleaning staff.
On Tuesday the State Government confirmed nine staff working at two quarantine hotels in Melbourne had been infected with coronavirus since July when the program was overhauled and largely shut down.
Victoria’s program hasn’t taken any new arrivals – other than those with an exemption – since an inquiry was announced in June, but some hotels had been providing quarantine for vulnerable community members who cannot safely isolate at home.
The justice department now operates a “health hotel” at the Novotel for positive cases or close contacts and a quarantine hotel at the Park Royal for people at risk of testing positive and required to self-isolate.
These hotels have still accepted overseas arrivals with exemptions since June – less than 100 – including health workers and maritime workers required to isolate.
The Grand Chancellor’s involvement in the program ceased last month, and the remaining guests at the Brady Hotel were transferred to the Novotel on Monday and Tuesday.
The program has been run by the Department of Justice and Community Safety and Alfred Health since it was overhauled.
Of the nine infected staff since July, five were from Spotless, two were from Alfred Health, one was from Department of Health and Human Services and another was a Victoria Police officer, The Australian reported.
On Tuesday chief health officer Brett Sutton said he didn’t believe they were infected at the hotels, but the situation will be examined by Victoria’s hotel quarantine inquiry.
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2020-09-30 23:00:55Z
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