Police union hits out at officer quarantine details amid ‘untrue’ breach reports

Some officers had begun to receive calls from health authorities after questions were raised on Thursday afternoon, a police source with knowledge of the matter, but not authorised to speak on it, said.

A Queensland Health spokeswoman said all testing was based on standard public health protocols and the department would continue to work with police so officers could be released from quarantine on day 14.

The criticism came just hours before a report that a woman in her 20s had breached protocol on Monday night by returning to the hotel by other means after accompanying her father to hospital in an ambulance.

Both travellers from Lebanon would later test positive to the more contagious B.1.1.7 variant of the virus, the News Corp report said.

Health authorities have rejected any suggestion a breach occurred, with a Queensland Health spokeswoman saying any transfer of a person and relative to hospital from quarantine took place via ambulance under full personal protective equipment (PPE) and safety guidelines, even for non-COVID medical issues.

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“We are concerned some early reporting has misrepresented this situation and it’s important people understand the facts,” she said. “All protocols were followed in this case.

“Guests were transported from and returned to the hotel by Queensland Ambulance Service while in appropriate PPE. The suggestion the person caught a ride-share back to the hotel is untrue. Full and proper COVID-19 PPE protocols were followed while these guests were in the hospital.”

Following confirmation the pair were infected by the more contagious strain on Tuesday night, first discovered in the UK, chief health officer Jeannette Young ordered all guests to be moved from the hotel in day-long operation.

With six cases traced to the hotel’s seventh floor, staff and a number of previous quarantine guests were also directed to quarantine and undergo a COVID-19 test out of what Dr Young described as an abundance of caution while authorities investigated how the virus may have spread among the group.

Only two of the group – a cleaner who worked in the hotel and her partner – had been active in the community while unknowingly infectious.

The other four, all returned travellers, all stayed on the same floor of the hotel at different times and in separate rooms, sparking calls from Ms Palaszczuk for an overhaul of Australia’s quarantine system.