Coronavirus: Adult and child fall sick in Hilton Hotel isolation

A child and adult from a family of seven are undergoing treatment for COVID-19 at a makeshift hospital in Sydney.

One of the children is wheeled out from the Hilton Hotel in Sydney after falling sick on Tuesday night. Picture: Bill Hearne

A child and adult from a family of seven are undergoing treatment for COVID-19 at a makeshift hospital in Sydney after the pair developed symptoms while in quarantine on Tuesday night.

The child was one of three children removed from Sydney’s Hilton Hotel by paramedics wearing full protective clothing.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said the children, their siblings and parents were taken by ambulance to a “health hotel” for treatment.

“Everyone will remain in quarantine but we will be supporting that family in terms of their health needs and any other needs they may have,” Dr Chant said.

The emergency unfolded as the first group of returned travellers was released after finishing a two-week forced isolation period at midnight on Tuesday.

Almost 300 former passengers of the Norwegian Jewel cruise ship began their journeys home on Wednesday morning after spending the past 14 days locked in hotels after their arrival from Hawaii.

The ecstatic travellers ignored an early-morning drizzle and filed out of the Swissotel’s foyer, eager to reach their home cities.

Passengers were given a red wristband to signal they had passed their final health screening and officials said there were no confirmed cases of COVID-19 among the newly released group.

Graham and Christine Cooper from the Gold Coast said it felt “surreal” to finally step outside and into the streets of Sydney.

Graham and Christine Cooper leave the Swissotel in Sydney after 14 days of quarantine. Picture: Jane Dempster

“We’re both a bit scared,” Mr Cooper said. “We’ve been in a bubble for six weeks and now we’re out there with everyone else thinking how do we shop and get our gear.”

Many interstate travellers, including Melbourne man Arthur Soiwisnki, will be able to skip a second round of quarantine after NSW police issued them with clearance documents.

“I’m just so happy to be out so I can see my kids,” he said, adding the quarantine experience had felt “a little bit like a jail”.

“We had no rights, no rights at all. Not even if you wanted to order something from outside,” he said.

While at least 2000 returned travellers are still quarantined in hotels across Sydney, only 121 symptomatic people have been tested for COVID-19, with 36 testing positive for the virus.

NSW Health said none of the confirmed COVID-19 cases among those in quarantine was linked to the Norwegian Jewel.

For some travellers, the nightmare is far from over. “I am starting to feel as if the walls are closing in around me,” Susana Batista said. “I’m in desperate need of fresh air.”

Ms Batista, 40, is in quarantine at the Hilton Hotel after returning from Britain. “We didn’t even know about the kids that were taken to hospital with corona­virus,” she said “The only communication we received are letters stuffed under the door.”

At least 3000 people nationwide are expected to come out of hotel isolation over the next week.