Coronavirus Australia: Hotels slammed for ‘embarrassing failures’

The Sydney hotels where travellers returning from overseas were quarantined have been slammed for a series of breaches and inconsistencies.

The Rydges Hotel on Swanston St in Melbourne where breaches of quarantine have been identified. Picture: NCA NewsWire

The Sydney hotels where returned overseas travellers are completing their 14 days of mandatory quarantine have been slammed by guests for a slew of “embarrassing failures”, citing “filthy” conditions and an “inconsistent” attitude from health authorities toward personal protective equipment (PPE).

Critically ill hotel guest Stephen Evans, whose application for quarantine exemption has been rejected three times by NSW Health, told A Current Affair “every minute” of the day he’s afraid of “catching something” from the other potentially COVID-19 positive guests at Sydney’s Merchant Hotel.

Security guards filmed in some of Sydney's quarantine hotels.

Mr Evans claimed his hotel room was “filthy”, which another guest also claimed, adding nursing staff at the hotel had an “inconsistent approach” to wearing PPE.

“I think there’s definitely a risk of spreading the disease within the hotel and potentially within the nursing staff,” Katherine van Ekert said.

Security guards were also filmed in the segment asleep on the job, with NSW Police confirming in a statement those guards had since been “terminated” for their “inappropriate behaviour”.

The Rydges Hotel on Swanston St in Melbourne where breaches of quarantine have been identified. Picture: NCA NewsWire

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It comes as bombshell leaked emails show there were also disturbing issues with Victoria’s hotel quarantine system from the first day it was brought in.

The emails obtained by The Age warned senior health officials that security guards were ill-equipped for the work and demanded police be called in to take control.

The first one was sent within 24 hours of the launch of the program on the March 28.

“We request that Victoria Police is present 24/7 at each hotel starting from this evening. We ask that DHHS urgently make that request as the control agency,” the email read.

Outbreaks from failures in the system have been linked to major clusters of coronavirus across Melbourne.

The State Government is not commenting on failures in the system, which was operated by private security contractors. It wants to wait until September to comment, when findings of an inquiry into the system will be released.

Senior health officials and bureaucrats called for the Andrews government to replace the security guards with police in emails leaked to The Age, saying they weren’t equipped to handle the hotel quarantine program.

Some of the issues raised by the DHHS included how the guards were supplying masks and gloves. They also sought clarification on policies around food deliveries at the hotels, asking whether quarantined travellers were leaving their rooms to pick up UberEats orders.

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Meanwhile, NSW is teetering on the brink of a second wave as the pub cluster across the city’s southwest spreads.

“Moronic” pub patrons in NSW are being blamed for a new COVID-19 crackdown after a string of new clusters was linked to pubs, clubs and casinos.

Today, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is set to announce changes to the size of group bookings along with heavy fines and tougher regulations on the collection of contact details.