coronavirus, COVID-19, coronavirus, hotel quarantine, COVID Canberra
Workers at Canberra’s only quarantine hotel have been told to avoid large crowds as they deal with four coronavirus cases. The ACT’s coronavirus case tally increased to four on Sunday with a man and a woman in their 40s testing positive. The woman is the mother of a teenager who was confirmed as an active coronavirus case last week. The man was sitting in an adjacent row to the teenager and another positive case on a repatriation flight from Singapore last Monday. ACT health authorities believe the first of the positive cases was infected in transit from Singapore, given people on repatriation flights have to test negative before they are allowed to board a flight to Australia. Authorities have stressed that workers at Pacific Suites on Northbourne Avenue are well-placed to manage the coronavirus cases, with strict infection prevention and control measures in place. ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith on Monday emphasised the positive cases were being kept in a different part of the hotel to other repatriation flight passengers. She said hotel workers had also been advised to avoid large crowds and events. “There’s also an encouragement for the staff, including when these positive cases came back, to say to them, ‘Look, you’re working in hotel quarantine – it would be better if you don’t go out to crowded places’,” she told ABC Radio. “We know it’s been a busy long weekend with the balloon festival, please don’t go and hang out in a crowd of other people if you’re working in hotel quarantine.” Ms Stephen-Smith said she understood that was a “tough ask” for hotel quarantine workers, but they understood they were working to safeguard Canberrans. “They also understand that the risk to them is very low because of all the procedures that we’ve put in place around infection prevention and control and personal protective equipment,” the minister said. She said the quarantine hotel had designated “red zones”, including corridors where guests might open their doors, where workers weren’t allowed unless they had on all of the appropriate personal protection equipment. READ MORE: Ms Stephen-Smith said that workers were subjected to a saliva test every time they had a shift, and a nasal swab every seven days. They also received a text every day to check that they still didn’t have symptoms. Of the ACT’s active coronavirus cases, the first two that tested positive have been identified as having the South African variant of the virus, which is believed to be more infectious than other strains. ACT health authorities are working based on the assumption the other two cases also have the South African variant. Canberra’s hotel quarantine processes have been set up with variants in mind. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
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Workers at Canberra’s only quarantine hotel have been told to avoid large crowds as they deal with four coronavirus cases.
The woman is the mother of a teenager who was confirmed as an active coronavirus case last week.
ACT health authorities believe the first of the positive cases was infected in transit from Singapore, given people on repatriation flights have to test negative before they are allowed to board a flight to Australia.
Authorities have stressed that workers at Pacific Suites on Northbourne Avenue are well-placed to manage the coronavirus cases, with strict infection prevention and control measures in place.
ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith on Monday emphasised the positive cases were being kept in a different part of the hotel to other repatriation flight passengers.
She said hotel workers had also been advised to avoid large crowds and events.
“There’s also an encouragement for the staff, including when these positive cases came back, to say to them, ‘Look, you’re working in hotel quarantine – it would be better if you don’t go out to crowded places’,” she told ABC Radio.
“We know it’s been a busy long weekend with the balloon festival, please don’t go and hang out in a crowd of other people if you’re working in hotel quarantine.”
Ms Stephen-Smith said she understood that was a “tough ask” for hotel quarantine workers, but they understood they were working to safeguard Canberrans.
“They also understand that the risk to them is very low because of all the procedures that we’ve put in place around infection prevention and control and personal protective equipment,” the minister said.
She said the quarantine hotel had designated “red zones”, including corridors where guests might open their doors, where workers weren’t allowed unless they had on all of the appropriate personal protection equipment.
Ms Stephen-Smith said that workers were subjected to a saliva test every time they had a shift, and a nasal swab every seven days.
They also received a text every day to check that they still didn’t have symptoms.
Of the ACT’s active coronavirus cases, the first two that tested positive have been identified as having the South African variant of the virus, which is believed to be more infectious than other strains.
ACT health authorities are working based on the assumption the other two cases also have the South African variant.
Canberra’s hotel quarantine processes have been set up with variants in mind.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
