Coronavirus: Fears of Sydney hotel security breach outbreak

Police and health officials have launched an urgent investigation to establish how a security contractor at a Sydney hotel contracted COVID-19 from a quaran­tined guest.

Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Sydney’s Circular Quay. Picture: Jane Dempster

Police and health officials have launched an urgent investigation to establish how a security contractor at a Sydney hotel contracted COVID-19 from a quaran­tined guest, prompting fears of a Melbourne-style breach that could have spread the virus across the city.

The security contractor worked at several locations while infectious, including Sydney Markets at Flemington and Parramatta Local Court, although officials said as of Tuesday there had been no new cases of the virus to emerge.

Genomic testing was used to link the man’s strain of COVID-19 to that of a traveller, who had been put into mandatory quarantine at the Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay on July 31 upon their return from the US.

 

They were tested for the virus on August 2 as part of routine protocols, then again on August 4 when they returned a positive result. Health officials said they were then transferred to an alternative hotel on August 5 for further management.

Officials said the security guard developed symptoms from August 11 and tested positive for the virus late on August 15, having by then worked at the two locations in the previous six days.

He worked at the Marriott Hotel on August 3-4 and then on August 7-8, followed by Sydney Markets on August 9 and Parramatta Local Court on August 11 and 12.

Because his strain of infection appeared different to any other in NSW, he is believed to have acquired it at the hotel, officials said.

“Our detective work has indicated the most likely source of infection was the acquisition at the Marriott Hotel,” Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said. Inquiries were continuing to establish how the transmission had occurred.

Close contacts of the guard have been identified and put into self-isolation. The news emerged on the same day that NSW Health announced three new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday, the lowest recorded number of cases in a month.

The traveller and the security guard have told police they did not have any form of contact during their overlapping time at the hotel. Health officials have known about the man’s condition since Sunday and said he was not infectious while he worked at the hotel.

“The guard has been interviewed and there has been no suggestion of breaches,” Dr Chant said. “It’s very important with these types of investigations that we keep an open mind. Obviously we’re keen to understand how that could have occurred so we can learn from that, but it’s been a very prompt response.”

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Leanne McCusker said all police officers working at the site had tested negative for the virus, along with roughly half of the security guards.

Tests were still pending on the remaining guards, she said.

Labor’s health spokesman Ryan Park said there would be considerable concern given events in Melbourne, where an inquiry into hotel quarantine breaches heard some 99 per cent of cases diagnosed since May were traceable to outbreaks at the Rydges Hotel and Stamford Plaza Hotel.

NSW has managed its hotel quarantine outbreaks using NSW police, Australian Defence Force officials, and about five security contracting firms.

These arrangements have been in place since March 29 and the security contractor’s diagnosis marks the first such case of leakage from a NSW quarantine hotel.

Mr Park said NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard should outline the steps being taken to ensure hotel quarantine was ­“robust and working properly”.