Coronavirus NSW: Quarantine hotel allowing new guests without warning
One of the Sydney hotels housing potentially infected airline passengers is still taking bookings from guests without warning them of the potential danger.
NSW Coronavirus News
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW Coronavirus News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
One of the Sydney hotels housing potentially infected airline passengers is still taking bookings from guests without warning them of the potential danger.
Rydges Airport Hotel, situated just metres from the international terminal, on Saturday started receiving passengers who will be forcibly quarantined for 14 days on selected levels of the property to ensure they don’t bring the coronavirus into the country.
MORE NEWS
‘That or your kids’: Why manager ‘disowned’ Cousins
North Sydney mega tower plan revived
‘Sick act’: NSW hospitals raided for sanitiser and face masks
Arriving passengers were taken by bus under police escort to the hotel and were seen checking in with the assistance of both federal and New South Wales police officers, some wearing protective masks and gloves.
Sitting around in the hotel’s lobby, the new guests appeared calm and composed despite some having endured an anxious wait to get on a plane home.
When The Sunday Telegraph called to inquire about booking a room at the hotel Saturday night, a reservation officer offered a standard room for $179 with no warning about the other guests who were being quarantined because they may be carrying the deadly COVID-19 virus.
Asked if the hotel was housing arriving passengers, the hotel representative confirmed they would be kept under strict supervision on dedicated floors of the building and would not be allowed to enter areas such as the lobby, despite them being seen there earlier in the day.
Thousands of Australians returning home on international flights will be met with the same enforceable requirements after Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday night announced the stricter measures had been agreed upon with state and territory leaders.
Authorities are desperately trying to stem the large numbers of positive COVID-19 cases originating from overseas, especially the United State and Europe.
Of the 3400 positive coronavirus cases in the country, two-thirds have originated offshore, including 496 on cruise ships.
Passengers will be processed by Border Force agents after landing, given a health check, then taken by bus to one of many hotels across the city.
Earlier on Saturday Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said security measures would be in place to enforce the isolation orders and anyone found leaving the hotel faces a fine or imprisonment.
“The force of law will be there to stop people leaving that hotel and there will be fines, even imprisonment, depending on the state or territory where that arrival takes place, he said.
More than 2600 passengers arrived at Sydney Airport on Saturday, with a further 3200 expected on Sunday.
Rydges Sydney Airport is not an official quarantine hotel but is housing forcibly quarantined incoming passengers.