Summary
- Victoria will return to harsher COVID-19 restrictions and up to 600 Australian Open players, officials and support staff have been told to isolate and get tested after a hotel quarantine worker tested positive to coronavirus on Wednesday. All tennis matches at Melbourne Park today have been called off.
- Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said in a late-night press conference on Wednesday that the state would return to mandatory masks indoors, would reintroduce caps on gatherings to 15 people in a household and would pause the 75 per cent return to work, scheduled to begin on Monday.
- Western Australia continues to face twin emergencies - a coronavirus lockdown and devastating bushfires - as Perth residents enter their fourth day of a hard five-day lockdown.
- Queensland has clocked up 24 days without a locally acquired case. NSW reached its 17th day without a case of community transmission on Wednesday.
- The federal government is working with the biotech industry on ways to establish large-scale mRNA vaccine manufacturing in Australia as a group of senior scientists work on a parallel plan to enable local production of the cutting-edge jabs.
Watch live: Queensland COVID-19 update
Queensland’s Health Minister Yvette D’Ath and Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young are due to provide a COVID-19 update shortly. You can watch their press conference live, below:
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Five people isolating in NSW after Melbourne hotel quarantine outbreak
By Kate Aubusson and David Estcourt
Five people in NSW were staying at a Victorian quarantine hotel when COVID-19 spread between guests in adjacent rooms.
As we mentioned earlier, in addition to dealing with the COVID case in a hotel worker, Victorian health authorities are investigating the transmission of the UK variant of the virus within one of the state’s quarantine hotels after the virus jumped from a hotel room to a guest in the opposite room.
Victoria’s public health team believes viral particles may have exited the room of a family who all later tested positive. Somehow, the virus either lingered in the air or attached itself to a hard surface, which then caused a woman in another room to contract the same strain of the virus.
Five people who were at the same hotel at the time and who are now in NSW have already been contacted and advised to get tested and isolate for 14 days regardless of their test result.
They will be required to get tested again at the end of that period.
“NSW Health is closely monitoring the situation in Victoria and will update its health advice accordingly. We will continue to work closely with our colleagues in Victoria and other jurisdictions to ensure that appropriate public health measures are in place to protect the community,” the ministry said in a statement.
NSW Health is treating 50 COVID-19 cases, none of whom are in intensive care. Most cases (96 per cent) are being treated in non-acute, out-of-hospital care, including returned travellers in Special Health Accommodation.
Melbourne arrivals screened at Sydney airport as NSW reaches 18 days without a local COVID case
By Kate Aubusson
And there’s good news for NSW – the state has recorded no new community COVID cases for the 18th consecutive day.
Three cases have emerged in hotel quarantine, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 4928.
A total of 10,551 tests were carried out in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, compared with the previous day’s total of 11,816.
From early this morning, NSW Health began screening passengers arriving on flights from Melbourne after a hotel quarantine worker tested positive to COVID-19 yesterday.
People arriving on Melbourne flights are also being asked if they have been to any of the venues of concern listed by the Victorian Health Department.
Anyone who has been in Melbourne since January 30 is asked to check the Victorian health website, to ensure they have not attended a public exposure site. If they have, they should get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days since being there, regardless of the result.
They must also get tested again towards the end of their 14-day isolation period (12 days after exposure) regardless of their symptoms.
In addition, if they develop any symptoms during that period, they are required to get tested immediately.
People who arrive from Victoria will also have to complete a passenger declaration form. People who provide false information are subject to an on-the-spot fine.
Anyone else in NSW who has recently been in Melbourne should continue to monitor the Victorian Department of Health website for additional venues of concern and updated health advice.
Howard Springs remote quarantine facility ‘gold standard’
Speaking of remote hotel quarantine facilities, the Northern Territory’s Howard Springs facility has been held up as the “gold standard” of sites.
The territory has not had a single infection breach at the remote facility.
Howard Springs is a former workers camp less than 30 kilometres from the centre of Darwin. It has been owned by the NT government since 2019 and had been sitting vacant, costing the government millions of dollars in annual maintenance. At the start of the pandemic, last February, it was used to house Australians who had been evacuated from Wuhan.
Run by the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, it has welcomed more than 3050 international arrivals since late October and has seen 61 confirmed coronavirus cases, without any leaks into the community.
Guests are allowed to sit on their balcony to get fresh air, but cannot interact with others.
Returned Australian travellers at the Howard Springs quarantine facility over Christmas.Credit:Louise Radcliffe-Smith
Last week, Australia’s peak medical group said governments should consider building dedicated quarantine facilities similar to the Howard Springs camp as a better option to house future returned travellers.
Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid said high-rise hotels were never designed to keep people locked in their rooms without fresh air and exercise.
Queensland’s pitch for remote quarantine sites gaining traction
By Lydia Lynch
Queensland’s pitch to quarantine returning Australians in remote parts of the country to avoid city-wide lockdowns is gaining more traction following Melbourne’s latest outbreak.
The Queensland government is pushing the national cabinet to agree to shift quarantine sites out of capital cities. The federal government is still considering the proposal.
Acting Queensland Premier Steven Miles said more infectious strains of the virus which have originated in the UK, Brazil and South Africa need “greater vigilance”.
The remote Howard Springs quarantine facility about 25 kilometres outside Darwin.Credit:Louise Radcliffe-Smith
“This is the third instance recently where we have seen a case of COVID escape from quarantine hotels,” Mr Miles said.
“They are not contained to one state, we got that incident here in Queensland, the one in Perth, as well as now one in Melbourne.
“This new more infectious strand requires greater vigilance and greater protection and greater infection control. I understand there will be a conversation at national cabinet tomorrow and I think it is incredibly important, underlined by these three instances in three separate states of these new, more infectious strains making their way out of hotel quarantine.”
Queensland border also remains open to Victoria, for now
By Lydia Lynch
It’s a similar story in Queensland, which has no plans to close its border to Victoria after a Melbourne hotel quarantine worker tested positive for COVID-19.
Acting Queensland Premier Steven Miles said anyone who has entered the Sunshine State from Melbourne since January 29 is required to get tested isolate until they receive a negative result.
Brisbane’s Hotel Grand Chancellor, which saw an outbreak of the UK variant of coronavirus last month. Victoria was quick to declare Brisbane a “red zone”.Credit:Attila Csaszar
Mr Miles urged residents to check the list of coronavirus exposure sites, released by Victorian Health authorities.
“If they have been to any of those locations at the time is of concern, they will be required to quarantine for 14 days,” he said.
However, the border may close in coming days if there is a rapid escalation of cases in Victoria, he said.
South Australia holds off closing border to Victoria
Anyone who has arrived in South Australia from Greater Melbourne since January 28 is now required to get a COVID-19 test and isolate until they receive a negative result.
“People coming in from the Greater Melbourne area have to have a PCR test – this is the nasal and throat swab – on day one, day five, and a 12. And, at this stage, to isolate after the first test pending that result coming back,” South Australian Premier Steven Marshall said.
It appears other states and territories are not rushing to close their borders to Victorians, but as we know, that can quickly change.
Anyone who has been at the Grand Hyatt quarantine hotel in Melbourne will be required to enter hotel quarantine in South Australia.
“We are also asking people to isolate who have come into contact with a range of areas of concern that have been identified by Victoria ... which include Lululemon at Moorabbin Airport, Club Noble, Bunnings Springvale, Coles Springvale ... Woolworths Springvale [and] the Melbourne Golf Academy at Heatherton,” Mr Marshall said.
“That this list is likely to grow and so if you are coming from greater Melbourne we are asking you to stay abreast of any developments in areas of concern and if you do have any concern that you may have been to one of these areas than we are asking you to get in touch with SA Health.”
Mr Mashall said the state’s “transition committee” will meet tomorrow.
“One of the things that we will be looking at tomorrow is the requirement to isolate after the first PCR test. As you would be aware, we now have a requirement for anybody coming in from New South Wales, and as of today Greater Melbourne, and also Western Australia to have a testing arrangement.
“The transition committee will meet tomorrow to consider this and whether it is still a requirement to isolate before the result is received.”
Mr Mashall said while South Australians needed to be alert, “we don’t need to be alarmed”.
“We certainly have been able to deal very effectively with these types of situations before and they expect that it is going to continue in the future,” he said.
Victorian Premier expects Australian Open to go ahead
By Ashleigh McMillan
Victoria’s Premier says he expects the Australian Open will go ahead, despite the new COVID-19 case connected to one of the tournament’s hotel quarantine sites.
Premier Daniel Andrews said while there were no “guarantees” with COVID-19, the tournament was not expected to be scrapped.
Novak Djokovic plays a ‘tweener’ during a practice session at Melbourne Park on Sunday.Credit:Getty
The new positive case, a 26-year-old man from Noble Park in Melbourne’s south-east, was a resident support worker at the hotel where hundreds of players and support staff were quarantined.
“We all understand that there’s no guarantees in any of this. But at this stage, the tournament shouldn’t be impacted by this,” Mr Andrews said.
“These things can change.“
Mr Andrews said he was “prepared to make difficult decisions” when advised by public health experts.
Around 520 players and staff from the Australian Open will now need to be tested for COVID-19 and isolate until they get a negative result.
“I think I have well and truly demonstrated that those connected to the Australian Open do not get special treatment,” Mr Andrews said.
“People’s classification is made as to their risk. They are not judgements made by me. They are judgements made by public health experts.”
Victoria’s COVID-19 response commander, Jeroen Weimar, said there were dedicated test facilities for the Australian Open players and support staff, but because they have been deemed to be casual contacts of the worker authorities are “not as concerned about them”.
Genomic testing to determine if the man has contracted the more virulent UK strain of the virus is expected to be completed by Friday.
Victorian authorities investigating possible ‘airborne transmission’ in quarantine hotel
Victorian health officials are exploring whether a hotel quarantine worker became infected with COVID-19 through airborne transmission.
“One thing is we can’t rule out is aerosol transmission – airborne transmission of this,” Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said.
“That is challenging – very, very challenging. [The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee] has been dealing with some of these issues. No doubt this will be a feature of the report that I will give to national cabinet tomorrow.
Australian Open tennis players and quarantine workers at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Melbourne on January 20.Credit:Eddie Jim
“It is just that step-by-step painstaking detective work. Looking at all the CCTV footage was really important. But the other thing too ... is the more test results we get back, the more people we can rule out, [and] that will help us with that evolving theory also.
“There is no obvious breach. There’s no problem where you can say, ‘Right. That’s probably where it happened’. So, we will have to wait until we get more of that contact tracing done, more of the test results. Then we will be able to narrow the field down.”
Queensland health authorities have also investigated whether the highly contagious UK variant of the virus was spread through airconditioning, or “airborne transmission”, after a cleaner at the Grand Chancellor quarantine hotel in Brisbane became infected, sparking the city’s three-day snap lockdown last month. A report on the Brisbane outbreak is due shortly.
Watch live: South Australia COVID-19 update
South Australian Premier Steven Marshall, Health Minister Stephen Wade and Police Commissioner Grant Stevens are due to hold a press conference about 9.45am local time (10.15am AEDT). You can watch their press conference live, below:
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2021-02-04 00:21:00Z
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