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First India repatriation flight touches down on back of new WA hotel quarantine transmission case
By Fran Rimrod
Western Australia’s first repatriation flight from India landed in Perth on Wednesday carrying 150 passengers after the travel ban imposed by the Australian government was lifted.
The flight from Delhi landed in Perth just after 8am, a day after a new case of transmission of COVID-19 within Perth’s hotel quarantine system emerged. Genome sequencing confirmed a returned traveller from Colombia and another positive case were linked.
The first repatriation flight from India has touched down in Perth.Credit: Nine News Perth
WA Chief Health Officer Andy Roberston said the returning Australians from India, who are set to quarantine in Perth’s Westin hotel, were required to be tested three times before getting on a plane.
“We would anticipate some cases, but certainly we’re not anticipating large numbers of cases,” he said.
A major overhaul looms for WA’s hotel quarantine operations, after the McGowan government agreed to hire a private health logistics company to provide all doctors and nurses to the system.
Healthcare Australia, which is already contracted by the New South Wales and Victorian governments, recruits and trains medical staff specifically to manage and treat people in hotels.
Dr Roberston said based on the government’s assessment of hotel capacity and the ability to manage cases the current traveller cap of 530 returning travellers was what he was comfortable with.