Park Royal Hotel residents test positive for UK coronavirus in Melbourne

Health authorities are investigating after the highly contagious UK coronavirus variant spread between rooms at a Melbourne quarantine hotel.

Health authorities are investigating possible transmission of the highly contagious UK coronavirus variant between residents at Melbourne’s Park Royal Hotel.

A family of five who arrived on January 20 at the Park Royal Hotel were tested for COVID on January 23 and found to be positive.

A woman in the room across from them, who has been there since January 11, then tested positive to an identical strain on January 27.

Minister police Lisa Neville revealed the “working assumption” was that the viral load of the family of five who were in one of the rooms was “so high” it escaped into the corridor when they opened the door.

“And the only reason that people open doors – there‘s no interaction with staff – is to pick up their food or drop their old laundry out,” she said.

The positive cases have been moved to a health hotel and remain in strict isolation.

CCTV at the Park Royal Hotel will be analysed, as well as a review of the ventilation to understand how the residents contracted the virus.

But Ms Neville said there had appeared to be no breaches of COVID safety protocols.

She also said a ventilation report found there had been no sharing of air between the rooms.

At this stage, residents are not thought to have had contact with staff.

AVALON OUTBREAK SOURCE MAY REMAIN UNKNOWN: OFFICIALS

The source of the Avalon outbreak may never be known, with NSW Health on the verge of abandoning their search for how the virus leaked into the community.

Chief health officer Kerry Chant authorities are “still pursuing a few lines of inquiry” but if they lead to dead ends, NSW Health “will not have been able to conclusively find the chain of transmission”.

“We are looking to conclude the report (into the outbreak) probably in the next week or so,” she said.

She said no initial source “has been identified to date”.

“There’s just two minor additional pathways that have been identified that we’re pursuing and waiting for some results on.

“If there’s nothing yielded by those investigations, we will have not been able to conclusively find the chain of transmission,” Dr Chant said.

Dr Kerry Chant speaks at a press conference in NSW on February 3 in Sydney, Australia. Picture: Getty

The virus that spread through the northern beaches was genomically linked to a returned traveller who arrived in Australia on December 1 but no link between the traveller and the community outbreak has ever been identified.

Dr Chant said it’s “disappointing” that she has not been able to find out how the virus leaked into the community but praised northern beaches residents for their actions in stopping the outbreak.

NO NEW LOCAL CASES IN WA

No new local COVID cases have been detected in Western Australia, after two full days of lockdown measures for Perth and surrounding areas.

WA Premier Mark McGowan said the results were “very encouraging” but the state was “not out of the woods”.

“We had incredible testing with 12,326 tests conducted yesterday,” Mr McGowan said.

If the state records no new local cases by Friday the full lockdown will end but some restrictions will remain in place, he said.

“We need to see at least 14 days of no community transmission before we can return to our unique life … that we were all enjoying throughout January,” Mr McGowan said.

Three housemates of the security guard who sparked the lockdown in WA have received a second COVID test, with the results still pending.

PFIZER VACCINE SAFE FOR ELDERLY

Australian drug regulators have ruled the highly effective Pfizer coronavirus vaccine is safe for use among elderly patients.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has completed its review of data from Norwegian health officials following reports of about 30 deaths among 40,000 elderly people given the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine and found “no specific risk”.

“The case reports were discussed at a recent meeting of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee, which concluded that there was not a specific safety concern, and no causal link between vaccination and deaths could be established,” the TGA said in a statement.

Australian drug regulators have ruled the highly effective Pfizer coronavirus vaccine is safe for use among elderly patients.

“The TGA therefore has concluded that there is no specific risk of vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in elderly patients.

“In addition, wider discussions with regulators in North America, UK and Europe reached a similar conclusion.”

The TGA said the Norwegian deaths were recorded among “very frail patients, including some who were anticipated to only have weeks or months to live”.

“The Product Information for health care professionals contains the following advice: ‘The data for use in the frail elderly (over 85 years) is limited … the potential benefits of vaccination versus the potential risk and clinical impact of even relatively mild systemic adverse events in the frail elderly should be carefully assessed on a case-by-case basis”.

The TGA said it would “continue to monitor the safety of COVID-19 vaccines” as they are rolled out in Australia and internationally.

“For all approved COVID-19 vaccines, the existing extensive Australia-wide vaccine and medicine safety monitoring system is being scaled up to include the new vaccine,” the statement said.

17TH DAY OF NO LOCAL CASES

Nearly 12,000 COVID tests were returned in NSW in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, with no new local cases detected for the 17th day in a row.

Announcing the result, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said the two square metre rule will replace the four square metre rule from next Friday unless something “very unexpected” occurs between now and then.

Ms Berejiklian has also flagged rules mandating masks in certain settings – like front facing hospitality workers – may be relaxed if NSW continues to record no community transmission.

“Many vulnerable are still wearing them in certain settings and that is a good thing,” she said.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Kerry Chant said health professionals are remaining vigilant.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian today. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

“As the premier has indicated it was pleasing to see testing levels up. Complementary to testing we have been expanding the sewerage surveillance system,” she said.

NSW Health continues to urge people across the state, particularly in the Liverpool area, to come forward for testing with even the mildest of symptoms that could signal COVID-19, such as a runny nose or scratchy throat.

Two new cases were recorded in hotel quarantine yesterday.