Man claims he was able to enter Melbourne quarantine hotel

A man has claimed hotel quarantine staff allowed him to enter a quarantine hotel and use a lift to drop off supplies for a friend.

A Melbourne man has revealed that he was allowed to walk into one of Victoria’s quarantine hotels and to drop off items for a friend without ever being told to sign in, isolate or take a test.

Paul Roache from Whittlesea has unwittingly revealed a major flaw in Victoria’s system that Premier Daniel Andrews has previously boasted was among the best in the country.

The 43-year-old said he was delivering a running machine, PS4 and other items to a friend in quarantine at the Park Royal hotel on January 24, with approval from the department.

But he was shocked when both hotel staff and ADF personnel directed him to take the items inside the hotel when he arrived.

The Park Royal Hotel at Melbourne Airport. Picture: David Geraghty.

On two separate occasions he went into the lift to take the items to a drop-off point.

“I said I would drop it off to him and we got approval, that took four days,” he said.

“When I got to the hotel I parked in the waiting area and called my friend and the hotel.

“I thought they would have come outside but there was no one.

“So I went to the reception and said do I leave it here and they said no just take it up.

“I had no mask on at that point and I was met by the ADF at the lift who asked me to put a mask on. I didn’t sign in, no one even knew I was there.”

He is believed to have visited the hotel while there were people inside who were being transferred to Victoria’s health hotel after receiving a positive result.

“It’s frustrating,” he said.

“I hear about how good the system is but I went up and down twice and no one ever stopped me.”

A COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria spokeswoman said due to the hotels unique layout people were allowed to the fourth floor.

CCTV showed the man was in the hotel for under the 15 minutes.

“There has been no IPC breach related to this matter and all processes were properly followed,” she said.

“Visitors and members of the public are not permitted access to hotel floors under any circumstance.”

Responding to the claim Transport Minister Jacinta Allan on Thursday said: “It’s difficult to respond to individual, anecdotal cases and if there are any observations of potential breaches they should absolutely be reported into CQV,” she said.

“We are operating this program under the highest, strictest of standards and infection prevention and control measures are being constantly monitored and where appropriate and where there are issues, reviewed.

‘We have seen this week the shift to N95 masks for staff.”

The apparent bungle comes after NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian branded Dan Andrews “pretty good at spin” after he boasted that Victoria’s quarantine system was the nation’s best.

On Tuesday Mr Andrews said “I am very confident we have a system that is worthy of being copied by others. It’s not about boasting, it’s a fact,” he said.

“If it were anything other than one of the best systems … then I doubt very much any first ministers across the country would have agreed to copy it.”

On Wednesday, he backed his claim saying other states were copying Victoria, but did not name which jurisdictions.

Victoria spent almost $5 million on a judicial inquiry to find out how the virus escaped hotel quarantine in 2020 to cause the second wave resulting in more than 800 deaths.

The inquiry made a range of recommendations to make the system and apparent quarantine breaches less likely to occur.

The matter is now under investigation by Quarantine Victoria.

Daniel Saunders, Mr Roache’s friend was in quarantine after returning from Saudi Arabia on January 20, and took a video of his friend from his room while he was dropping off the items.

“I was told he would just drop it off at the bottom outside where there are usually security guards.

“But apparently there was no one there.”

Mr Saunders said it was around the time that the family of three who were infected were being moved from the hotel and he was surprised to find out his friend had come inside and caught the lift.

Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said it was “not an ideal situation” and confirmed he would be investigating the incident.

“There has been more recently, we know about the new strain of the virus and other matters.

“That is why we are going through that continuous quality improvement exercise through the AHPPC to improve that.

“We want quarantine to be exactly that, to separate people from the wider community to minimise the chances of the virus spreading.

“That is not an ideal situation.”

Speaking in Canberra following a two-hour meeting of Australia’s peak medical committee – the AHPPC – Prof Kelly said improvements were constantly being made to hotel quarantine guidelines.

“AHPPC is looking at all of the quarantine arrangements, right from people before they leave the country of origin through the whole system and after they leave the hotel quarantine to see what, if anything, we can improve,” Prof Kelly said.

National University epidemiologist Peter Collignon said: “I would have thought you would still have to sign in if you go into a quarantine hotel, you have to in restaurants.”

Deakin University Chair of Epidemiology Professor Catherine Bennett said while the risk of infection was low “given the risks of hotel quarantine and that people will be passing through ... they should have someone in the foyer.”

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