Sydney hotel quarantine guard tests positive to COVID

A security guard overseeing hotel quarantine in Sydney’s Circular Quay is believed to have contracted coronavirus from a returned traveller.

A security guard overseeing hotel quarantine at the Marriott Hotel in Circular Quay has tested positive to coronavirus.

The guard worked at the hotel on August 3, 4, 7 and 8, and “most likely” contracted the virus from an overseas traveller who had returned from the US.

“This is a different virus, and it matches a person that was quarantined at this hotel,” NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said on Tuesday.

The returned traveller was tested on August 2 and returned a positive result on August 4.

Dr Chant said the guard told contract tracers he had no recollection of coming into direct contact with any guests at the hotel.

Police officers and security guards who worked with the infected guard have been tested for the virus, but have all returned negative results.

The security guard, who worked at the Marriott (pictured) on August 3, 4, 7 and 8, is believed to have contracted COVID-19 from a traveller who had returned from the US. Picture: Dylan Robinson

A thorough investigation as to how he became exposed to coronavirus is still underway, with authorities interviewing the guard, reviewing CCTV and speaking with infected people in quarantine.

Dr Chant said the guard did not work at the hotel while he was infectious, though he is believed to have worked security at Parramatta Courts while infectious.

The diagnosis is linked to warnings for those who attended Sydney Markets at Flemington on August 16 between 8am and 4pm and Parramatta Local Court on Tuesday and Wednesday August 11, between 8:30am and 12:30pm.

“This person had worked in a variety of settings, a lot of which would have brought him into contact with other people, particularly in areas concerned about community transmission,” Dr Chant said.

Those who had been in close contact with the guard while he was infected have been placed in isolation, but Dr Chant says she is not aware of any who have tested positive for the virus.

This case is genetically different from the current strain being seen in community transmission throughout NSW, which is believed to have come from Victoria.

Just three people tested positive to COVID-19 up to 8pm on Monday, with one of those in hotel quarantine, and another linked to the funeral gatherings cluster.

The source of infection for the third case, which was locally acquired, remains under investigation.

Tuesday’s announcement comes after it was found more than 90 per cent of the cases in Victoria’s deadly second wave of infections could be traced back to a family of four who quarantined at the Melbourne’s Rydges on Swanston Hotel in May.

The rest could be traced back to another three travellers who quarantined at the Stamford Plaza in June, an inquiry into the state’s hotel quarantine system heard this week.