Victoria’s hotel quarantine boss denies man was allowed to use nebuliser

Victorian health authorities have flatly denied a man’s claims that he was given permission to use a nebuliser while in quarantine at Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport.

Victorian quarantine officials have denied a returned traveller’s claims that they gave him permission to use an asthma nebuliser.

Should the man be telling the truth, Victorian health and quarantine officials will have breached multiple national guidelines governing the use of nebulisers where COVID-19 may be present.

Victoria’s head of hotel quarantine Emma Cassar. Picture: Luis Ascui/Getty Images

But Victoria’s head of hotel quarantine Emma Cassar stepped up the Victorian Labor government’s denials that the traveller had told staff he had the device, declaring there was “no evidence” he had done so.

The 38-year-old asthma sufferer has been blamed for spreading coronavirus at the Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport with his use of a nebuliser, triggering the state’s five-day lockdown.

The man has claimed he had ­declared his nebuliser to staff, who not only twice gave him permission to use it, they also offered to source more Ventolin for the device.

However, Ms Cassar was insistent there was “no evidence” that the man had told hotel quarantine staff that he had a nebuliser.

“I can categorically say that there is no evidence that he has raised this with our public health team or our ­operational team,” she said.

“The records that we keep for these assessments are thorough and detailed, and these are the requirements of all health authorities.

“Had we had known about it we would have done something about it earlier.”

The COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria Commission also denied it had ignored the health guidelines.

The asthma sufferer has been blamed for spreading coronavirus at the Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport. PIcture: Luis Ascui/AAP

“Nebulisers have never been ­allowed under our program, so there has been no ignoring of any guidelines,” it said in a statement.

These guidelines include a key recommendation within the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce, which warns against the use of a nebuliser because it raises the possibility of airborne infection.

One senior health official told The Sunday Telegraph how the regularly updated taskforce recommendations were the “bible” for health officials working in a COVID-19 setting.

The warning against nebulisers is repeated in the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care standards, which simply states: “Avoid nebulisation.”

While the man had not tested positive to coronavirus when he used the nebuliser at the Holiday Inn Melbourne, everyone in quarantine must be assumed to have the virus.