- Two people connected with the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport have tested positive for COVID-19
- One of the cases is a returned traveller who had recently completed her 14-day quarantine while the other is a food and beverage worker at the hotel
- While the traveller’s test returned a positive result after she was released from isolation, initial interviews suggest that her movements in the community were limited
- Brett Sutton, Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, said the new cases were likely the result of transmission within the hotel quarantine system
- Sutton has called for a “root and branch review” of the recent outbreak, which appears focused on one particular floor of the hotel
Two people connected with the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport have tested positive for COVID-19.
In a press conference earlier today, Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said one of the cases is a returned traveller who had recently completed her 14-day quarantine while the other is a food and beverage worker at the hotel.
Foley had only been made aware of the latter case on his way to the conference.
While the traveller’s test returned a positive result after she was released from isolation, initial interviews suggest that her movements in the community were limited.
“We’ve only identified one other social and household primary close contact. But of course, this number may change when the review is completed,” Foley said.
Brett Sutton, Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, said the new cases were likely the result of transmission within the hotel quarantine system.
“Someone who has already done their 14 days and has left quarantine had been exposed maybe just before leaving quarantine then develops the illness, we think that’s what’s happened in this case,” he continued.
The food and beverage worker then tested positive on Tuesday afternoon, bringing the total number of positive cases linked to the Holiday Inn to three after another woman tested positive on Sunday.
All of the cases appear to have come from one particular floor, and Sutton has called for a “root and branch review” of the recent outbreak.
“[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,” he added.
“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.”