Michael Gunner has ‘nothing but sympathy’ for QLD gov despite hotel quarantine transmission

Chief Minister Michael Gunner said does not blame the Queensland government for forcing an NT mining worker to spend nine hours in a quarantine hotel, where he is believed to have caught the Delta variant of Covid-19.

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CHIEF Minister Michael Gunner says he does not blame the Queensland government for forcing a mine worker to spend nine hours in a quarantine hotel, where he is believed to have caught the Delta variant of Covid-19, before allowing him to fly to the NT.

The worker at the Newmont-owned Granites Gold Mine in Central Australia travelled from Bendigo in Victoria to Brisbane, where he was instructed to go into hotel quarantine at the Novotel Brisbane Airport, before departing on a charter flight to the mine the following day.

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According to Queensland’s chief health officer Jeanette Young, his room was on the floor of a “transmission event” of the highly contagious Delta variant, which is how authorities believe the mine worker caught the virus.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

However, when asked on Sunday if the NT government was frustrated with Queensland Health, Mr Gunner said he had “nothing but sympathy” for other states as they dealt with the pandemic.

“We had a different policy on that particular day, we had restricted ours to Greater Melbourne. Queensland still had theirs for the whole of Victoria,” he said.

“We’re all extremely mindful of the pressure every state has been under for the last 18 months.

“We understand the limits of hotel quarantine.

“When you look at Australia compared to the rest of the world … Queensland has done just a remarkable job.

“And so I’m not here to criticise (Premier) Annastacia (Palaszczuk), or their government.”

NT chief health officer Dr Hugh Heggie confirmed he was aware the Delta stream had been present in the Brisbane quarantine hotel where the mine worker was placed.

“When we talk about this though, we’re talking about not necessarily breaches of behaviour but breaches of infection prevention,” Dr Heggie said.

“And now we know that sometimes, even just some air that leaves a room with somebody who’s positive can actually come out through the door and be on the floor or on objects that then somebody touches, which could be a door handle. It could be a lift button.

“So it’s not useful for us to go and blame, and they’ll (the Queensland government) be doing their own assessment.”

Dr Young said the mine worker was contacted by Queensland health authorities to get tested after he arrived in the NT, along with everyone else who had been on the same floor of the quarantine hotel.

Another five people have since tested positive to Covid-19, including two in the NT.

All are connected to the mine worker.

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