Couple who contracted coronavirus at Adelaide’s Peppers medi-hotel may have caught it from speaking to security guard

SA’s deputy chief public health officer has speculated about how a couple who contracted coronavirus while quarantined in a city medi-hotel may have got infected.

A couple who contracted coronavirus while quarantined in the city’s Peppers medi-hotel may have become infected after briefly speaking to a security guard, SA’s deputy chief public health officer has speculated.

“It could only be from staff which would be the route of entry,” Dr Michael Cusack said on radio this morning, as health officials continue to painstakingly comb through hours of CCTV footage.

“Our understanding at this point is that it is a member of staff, it may have been a member of the security team the virus came through.”

Asked if it may have been during a “chat in a corridor” Dr Cusack said “that may be a

However, SA chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier wasn’t aware of her deputy’s comments.

She told the daily press conference it wasn’t yet clear if a hallway chat had sparked the virus ecaped.

“I’m not sure where you got that info from, my team got the video footage yesterday, and I don’t want to put pressure on them.”

She said about 95 per cent of staff at the Peppers medi-hotel had been tested and returned a negative result.

Also this morning, Dr Cusack was unable to say why the “active surveillance” program that was proposed in August for the medi-hotels and among security staff did not go ahead.

“I know that it was very closely looked at, I’m afraid I don’t have the information why that didn’t go ahead at that time” he told ABC Radio Adelaide.

Military personnel stand guard at Peppers Hotel in the CBD where the Parafield cluster originated. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

It comes as a female student at Woodville High School tested positive to coronavirus on Wednesday night, prompting an urgent warning from health authorities.

As a result of the expatriate couple contracting the virus in the hotel at the centre of the Parafield cluster, Premier Steven Marshall on Wednesday announced an overhaul of the state’s hotel-quarantine system. The crackdown includes moving all COVID-positive cases from medi-hotels to a dedicated facility.

The new centre will be guarded by police and government security officers, instead of the private companies that keep watch on medi-hotels.

The changes are part of an eight-point plan to improve quarantine controls. The city’s former Wakefield Hospital is the preferred site.

Also on Wednesday, authorities revealed the source of the Parafield cluster had now been traced to a security guard working at the hotel, rather than a cleaner as first thought.

Officials say there is no evidence of deliberate safety protocol breaches, of staff entering quarantined rooms or of “inappropriate behaviour.”

About half of the Peppers’ staff have now been tested and all were negative.