Victoria’s hotel quarantine program set to expand

The hunt is on for a new director of hotel quarantine, as Victoria prepares to take on more international travellers.

Police at the Novotel Hotel, one of the hotspot hotels designated for quarantining positive COVID cases in Melbourne. Picture: David Geraghty/NCA NewsWire.

The Andrews Government has issued a job ad for another director of hotel quarantine, as a fifth Victorian case of the coronavirus super strain is confirmed.

The Herald Sun can reveal that more hotels are being added to the program protecting Victorians from COVID-19.

The Department of Justice and Community Safety quietly began advertising someone to run the planned expansion on Christmas Eve.

A salary of up to $249,000 is offered, with a contract through to November 30.

The Director, Hotel Services role is responsible for overseeing the management of groups of quarantine hotels in the COVID-19 Accommodation program.

There are already three directors performing the role for the hotels part of the program.

The job description said the successful applicant would “manage an extensive and significant program of work”.

A spokesman for the newly created agency COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria said those roles were filled before international flights began again on December 7.

Arrivals are currently capped at 160 a day passengers per day. The Andrews Government said last month the program would be continually assessed before a decision is made to increase the number of arrivals.

Cleaners at the Novotel hotel in South Wharf. Picture: Wayne Taylor/NCA NewsWire.

But the recruiting for a new senior manager is the first major indication the state government intends to lift the arrival numbers.

“We are recruiting for an additional role as we prepare for more hotels to come online as the overseas traveller cap is raised from the current average cap of 160 per day,” the spokesman said.

“This role will be setting up and then overseeing additional hotels as they go live to accept more overseas travellers to Victoria.”

An exact date has not been confirmed and would not happen without the new director being in place.

The caps on international arrivals in NSW, Western Australia and Queensland are reduced by 50 per cent until February 15, amid the threat of the UK super strain.

COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said Victoria now had five cases of the UK variant, which is highly contagious, in hotel quarantine.

“We’ve had a total of five cases of the UK variant that we’ve seen in our entire hotel quarantine program over the last few weeks,” he said.

“There are no new cases of the UK variant that I’m aware of but of course our clinical teams are reviewing those details on a continual basis as these new cases come forward.”

Mr Weimar said the handful of positive results “highlight again the importance of the hotel quarantine program.”

“We’ve got to protect our borders and ensure that people coming in are as fully tested and fully isolated and quarantined as possible to avoid any risk,” he said.