NSW Health staff quarantine Melbourne train passenger
A train passenger has been forced into quarantine and is facing a possible $11,000 fine after travelling to Sydney from a COVID hot spot in Melbourne. It comes as NSW recorded zero new cases yesterday while Victoria reported 66.
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A train passenger has been forced into quarantine and is facing a possible $11,000 fine after travelling to Sydney from a COVID hot spot in Melbourne.
The man was apprehended by NSW testing teams after getting off the XPT at Central Station yesterday — prompting an angry NSW Health Minister to lash out at Victorian authorities for allowing him to board the train.
“I’m strongly of the view that (Victoria) needs to be implanting a screening process at train stations in Victoria and looking at the sorts of things we are looking at here,” Health Minister Brad Hazzard said.
“People who had Victorian ID for example that shows hot spot address, those people should not be allowed to come here.”
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The man’s licence revealed he previously lived in a virus-stricken area of Melbourne and had visited a storage facility there recently.
The Health Minister said police were investigating if he is liable for a $11,000 fine.
“That’s been looked (into) at the present time. We’ve asked the police to examine that more closely. Then we’ll make some decisions,” he said.
Mr Hazzard said the traveller’s original accommodation has been cancelled by the hotel and he is now being detained in a taxpayer-funded hotel quarantine.
NSW Health has been screening passengers arriving by XPT into Central Station from Melbourne since Thursday. Similar tests are being done at Sydney Airport. Passengers have their temperatures taken and are quizzed on their health and travel.
It comes as 10,000 people in Victoria refused to get tested for COVID-19 despite another 66 positive cases in the past 24 hours.
Genomic testing has suggested a “super spreader” could be the source of the new wave of cases.
Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said the government was investigating why Victorians are refusing testing as the state’s community transmission rises.
“We are analysing that data to see exactly why people are refusing,” she said.
“But it is concerning that some people believe that coronavirus is a conspiracy or that it won’t impact them, so what I want to stress here is that coronavirus is a very contagious virus.”
Victorian Premier Dan Andrews said he was open to implementing more restrictions if infections continue to rise. “We certainly can’t rule (out) further restrictions and we certainly can’t rule out other postcodes on that formula being pulled into this,” Mr Andrews said.
Meanwhile, NSW recorded no new cases of COVID-19 out of more than 17,800 tests that were conducted in the past 24 hours.
There are currently 67 people being treated by NSW Health for the virus and none of the patients are on ventilators.
However, the state remains on high alert.
At Rozelle, cars full of wary locals lined up outside a testing site yesterday after a Woolworths employee in the Balmain area tested positive.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Kerry Chant was pleased with the response.
“I did indicate that it was likely he had very low levels of infectiousness at the time but I really welcome the community’s response and having attended, I have reports yesterday that there was strong attendance at the local COVID clinics,” she said.
An 18-year-old male student from Green Point Christian College on the NSW Central Coast is currently being investigated for COVID-19 and the school has been closed as health authorities wait for results.
10,000 VICTORIANS REFUSE TESTING
Victoria has recorded 66 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24-hours as residents in 36 Melbourne suburbs spend another day in lockdown.
Premier Daniel Andrews said this morning that 17 of the cases were connected to contained outbreaks, a single case was in hotel quarantine, 20 were the result of routine testing and 28 were under investigation.
A total of 449 cases have been found through the state government’s suburban testing blitz since it commenced last week.
Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said around 10,000 residents had declined he opportunity to be tested for coronavirus so far.
“That might be for a range of reasons, including that they may have already been tested in a different location, we are analysing that data to see exactly why people are refusing,” Ms Mikakos said.
“But it is concerning that some people believe that coronavirus is a conspiracy or that it won’t impact on them, so what I want to stress here is that coronavirus is a very contagious virus.”
It comes as NSW ramps up monitoring of Victorians travelling to NSW to prevent the outbreak spreading after a Balmain Woolworths staff member tested positive this week, and a school on the Central Coast closed after fears a student may have been exposed to COVID-19.
The Woolworths employee had tested positive for coronavirus in Melbourne hotel quarantine after flying in from Bangladesh.
He was allowed to travel to Sydney eight days later, before going on to work two shifts at Balmain Woolworths.
His subsequent positive test for the disease has forced 50 staff into isolation.
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Authorities have urged anyone who visited the Darling St Woolworths in Balmain last Friday and Saturday to come forward for testing.
Meanwhile, a student from Green Point Christian College has tested negative for COVID-19 hours after the school was shut down over infection fears.
The school will reopen in a fortnight once school holidays end.
“The school will be non-operational for the on-site attendance of staff and students today as an extra precaution while we await confirmation of the result,” Principal Phillip Nash said.
NSW Health has requested anyone who has been unwell or has flu like symptoms to be tested at a COVID-19 clinic.
Thank you to â¦@nswpoliceâ© 4 supporting â¦@NSWHealthâ© staff at Sydney airport who are screening incoming travellers from Victoria (including returning NSW residents). Health Orders came into force at midnight:Melbourne Covid19 hotspots travellers risk jail & $11k fine. pic.twitter.com/8mcupeF31l
— Brad Hazzard (@BradHazzard) July 2, 2020
ZERO QUARANTINE BREACHES IN NSW
NSW police are increasing efforts to police the Victorian borders, with highway patrols to check cars with southern number plates and random vehicle stops to be brought in across border suburbs.
Anyone caught flouting the rules can be jailed for six months or fined $11,000.
Health staff have also been deployed at airports, including in regional NSW, to prevent potentially infected residents from Melbourne’s COVID-19 suburbs entering the state.
There will also be screening at Central Station to monitor anyone trying to enter Sydney on an express train.
Police will assist NSW staff in their screening operation and will be conducting “proactive, high-visibility activity,” a statement said.
The move follows a cross-border blast from NSW’s Health Minister Brad Hazzard, who has urged Victorians to pull their weight in the bug battle.
“Take it seriously, because NSW is taking it apparently a lot more seriously than has been taken in the past in Victoria,” a furious Mr Hazzard said on Thursday.
When asked if he had trust in the Victorian hotel quarantine system after Melbourne outbreaks were traced back to glaring breaches of the program, Mr Hazzard said he had “major concerns about what has happened”.
NSW Police say the ‘professional’ management of NSW mandatory quarantine facilities had meant there had been no quarantine order breaches since it began on March 29.
More than 32,000 people have been put in mandatory quarantine in NSW since March 29, with an average of 500 police officers, 150 ADF staff and private security contractors monitoring the 22 hotels over any 24-hour period.
Travellers with symptoms of COVID-19 are put into hotels managed by NSW Health.
There are currently 4972 people in quarantine across 18 Sydney hotels, and a further 493 people in four hotels being managed by NSW Health.