Coronavirus Australia: Now there’s no escaping hotel isolation

Police co-ordinating strict new quarantine rules for returning overseas travellers brace for more than 20,000 airport arrivals.

Security officers check passengers as they arrive at a city hotel after landing at Sydney Airport on Sunday. Picture: Jane Dempster

Police co-ordinating strict new government quarantine rules for all returning overseas travellers are bracing for more than 20,000 airport arrivals over the next week who face two weeks of compulsory isolation under guard in hotels.

With two-thirds of confirmed coronavirus cases in Australia linked to overseas travellers, an unprecedented operation involving police, soldiers and Border Force officers swung into action on Sunday at the start of a strict ­regime ordered by Scott Morrison.

The first wave of international travellers covered by the new rules received health checks on arrival in Sydney and Melbourne, before being escorted on chartered buses to hotels for quarantining.

Police ordered family and friends not to greet the returning Australians — the only international travellers allowed into the country. Locals who did turn up to see arriving travellers were refused access to terminals. “There are no areas in the Sydney International Airport in which family and friends will be able to see the ­returned travellers or make contact with them,’’ police warned. “We understand this is unprecedented, but it is a vital step in trying to stop the spread of COVID-19.”

Some travellers complained they were kept waiting on the tarmac and on buses for hours with little communication from officials. “We were all confused as we weren’t getting any proper communication from anyone,” said Paul Strasser, 22, who landed in Sydney from Los Angeles.

“There was a young couple with a baby on my bus who were clearly distressed about the lack of information.”

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller, instructed by Premier Gladys Berejiklian to take control of the state’s operational response to COVID-19, confirmed up to 3000 passengers who arrived in Sydney aboard a dozen planes on Sunday were headed for isolation at city hotels.

“The loads have been around 25 per cent smaller than what we had anticipated; unsure if that is a by-product of the new powers that were brought into place, but it is something that we will monitor closely.”

Mr Fuller, appointed State Emergency Operations Controller, said about 30 of the first 1000 had gone into “high-level isolation” ­because of symptoms potentially consistent with coronavirus.

“In terms of a law-and-order perspective, can I again reinforce with the community that you are safe today,” he said.

The Prime Minister announced the quarantine measures on Friday, saying the nation was not in lockdown but a mandatory isolation crackdown was needed for returned travellers as the number of COVID-19 cases in Australia surged past 3000.

The number of confirmed cases jumped again to 3964 by late Sunday — the biggest single rise in a 48-hour period. NSW continued to account for the bulk of infections with almost 45 per cent.

The tally of COVID-19-related deaths also rose, to 17, with the death of a Victorian man in his 80s and a 79-year-old Queensland woman who had been a Ruby Princess cruise passenger.

The strict quarantine regime is a marked change in the staged government approach to COVID-19 compared with last week, when community anger was sparked by TV footage showing returned travellers at airport terminals failing to observe social distancing and ­receiving no health checks.

Authorities in Sydney expect up to 17,000 international arrivals over the next week. Another 3000 or more could arrive in Melbourne.

Police are compiling lists of people with coronavirus, and of travellers who returned before hotel quarantining began at midnight on Saturday and were previously required to self-isolate at home. Police are authorised to make contact and impose on-the-spot fines for breaches of isolation orders, while those in hotel quarantine will be required to stay in their rooms under police guard.

Six international passenger jets arrived at Melbourne Airport after midnight on Saturday night, and a seventh was expected late on Sunday.

Victorian Tourism Minister Martin Pakula said flights from China, New Zealand, Canada, Chile and Doha were met on landing by Health Department officials.

“They have had a group medical check, been provided with some refreshments, put on buses and taken to city hotels. We have secured something in the vicinity of 5000 hotel rooms for the purposes of this new quarantine ­arrangement,” he said.

Arrivals in Melbourne were whisked directly from the tarmac in SkyBuses and driven to Crown casino’s Promenade Hotel at inner-city Southbank.

Large Sydney hotels including the Hilton, InterContinental and Swissotel have been booked as quarantine destinations for passengers arriving from London and Los Angeles. Tourism Accommodation Australia chief executive Michael Johnson said more than 70 per cent of hotels in Sydney were specially booked.

The strict quarantine measures prompted complaints from some at Sydney Airport claiming relatives would be better off isolating at home. Andrew Cowling said he was concerned about his 85-year-old-father Jeffery, who had just ­arrived from the US. “He needs medication, he has dietary ­require­ments, but there was no in­for­mation provided by the gov­ern­ment on how they will handle that in the hotel,” Mr Cowling said.

Raj Kumar, who tried to signal from outside a bus window to his daughter Divvani inside, said he had no idea which hotel she was headed for, and he was worried she could get sick in quarantine. “This is a total blunder from the government. My daughter is feeling fine,” he said.

Additional reporting: Rachel Baxendale