Rolling coverage: Six symptomatic travellers test negative, second ‘hot hotel’ to stay closed

Daniel Andrews says 25,000 at the Boxing Day test is a great symbol for every Victorian and increasing that number would be “fantastic”.

Crowds at the Boxing Day Test could rise above the 25 per cent capacity first outline, with Premier Daniel Andrews flagging work was well underway to lift this cap further.

When asked on Wednesday if crowds at the MCG could rise beyond 25,000 before tickets go on sale, Mr Andrews said the government was working towards that goal.

“That is certainly our aim,” he said.

“If we can do better than 25,000 that would be a fantastic outcome.

“It would be unwise to assume that it is double 25,000

“But even at 25,000 it’s a great symbol for every Victorian ... We can have events again.”

Major Events Minister Martin Pakula said Cricket Australia was keen to release tickets within the next couple of days.

“That becomes a de facto deadline in that they wanna know how many tickets they can release.

“Ultimately it (the crowd size) will be in the hands of the Chief Health Officer.”

Crowd testing trial at the MCG. Picture: Wayne Taylor

BORDER PERMIT SYSTEM TO END AS CHECKS WOUND BACK

Victoria has quietly dumped universal permit checks for South Australians travelling into the state, despite border controls still being in place.

The State Government confirmed last night that ‘spot checks’ would be carried out instead of having road checkpoints manned and authorised officers stationed at domestic terminals.

The permit system will then be dumped from December 12.

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DOZENS TAKEN TO VIRUS ‘HOT HOTEL’

Twenty international passengers have been taken to a quarantine hotel set up solely for people showing symptoms of coronavirus or those with complex medical issues.

It comes as the Department of Health and Human Services released new data on Wednesday specifying how many arrivals are in Victoria’s reset hotel quarantine program.

From 11pm on Tuesday there are 281 returned passengers in hotel quarantine.

At least 20 of them are in Victoria’s “hot hotel” – Novotel Melbourne South Wharf – where six people showing COVID-19 symptoms have returned a negative test result.

Victoria’s second “hot hotel” will remain closed for another week due to ventilation issues, with six return travellers with coronavirus symptoms returning negative results after being locked in quarantine.

It comes as the state recorded its 40th consecutive “zero day” on Wednesday, with no new cases recorded.

Police Minister Lisa Neville on Tuesday confirmed one of two hotels specifically designed to take people suspected of having the virus was out of action.

Extra ventilation is being installed at the Holiday Inn on Flinders, making South Wharf’s Novotel the only current hot hotel after the program restarted on Monday.

“We’re nowhere near being short on beds. We won’t get to full capacity for a while,” Ms Neville said.

The six symptomatic return travellers touched down on Monday and were shipped to the hot hotel as a precaution. So far, none have returned positive results.

Detainees in quarantine will be forced to pay for a drink from the minibar, after being banned from ordering alcohol from outside services.

A returned traveller on Tuesday attempted get a case of beer delivered from Dan Murphy’s before authorities intervened.

Ms Neville said travellers would not be forced to go alcohol-free, but could not order booze from outside their room due to responsible service laws.

“They are able to order hotel booze,” she said.

“The hotel has a responsible alcohol requirement on how much they can provide and of course Dan Murphy’s doesn’t.”

Legislation to enable the government to charge return travellers for hotel quarantine was last night being debated in parliament.

Returned travellers arrive at the Pan Pacific hotel. Picture: Ian Currie/NCA NewsWire.

If passed anyone who entered quarantine from Monday will be billed for their stay.

While supportive of legislation, the state opposition moved to restrict the number of people eligible for a waiver.

They also raised concerns that up to $16 million of fees could be in dispute after the government flagged it could take until mid January for the fee regulations to be put in place.

Labor backbencher Will Fowles said the fee structure had been well publicised.

“I don’t think anyone returning to Australia this month could anticipate they would get a free ride in hotel quarantine,” he said.

Adult travellers will be charged $3000, with a $1000 fee for each additional adult in a room and $500 for children aged between three and 18.

There would be no charge for children under three.

“Despite having months to get hotel quarantine right, it appears Daniel Andrews has failed to learn the lessons of other states and may yet again be leaving taxpayers to foot the bill for hotel quarantine,” opposition police spokesman David Southwick said.

Meanwhile, more ADF personnel were expected to arrive on Tuesday in addition to the 109 already stationed at hotels in Victoria.

LOCKED-DOWN YOUTHS RUN RIOT

Violent youth offenders are still causing issues for police as Victoria continues to emerge from lockdown.

Ahead of official crime figures released later this month, Police Minister Lisa Neville has flagged officers were still dealing with an unusually high rate of violent youth offenders that had upped their crime activity during the lockdown.

She confirmed officers had also been dealing with more high speed car chases and continued to experience record high domestic violence call outs.

“It’s been a strange year in terms of crime, we have had periods when crimes in lots of things were way down because people weren’t out,” she said.

“Those who were committing crimes were arrested pretty quickly because police could pick them up.

“We are still seeing some of that high-harm crimes, particularly among those youth offenders there is no doubt about that.”

Originally published as Rolling coverage: Six symptomatic travellers test negative, second ‘hot hotel’ to stay closed