Sydney hotel quarantine leaks don’t coincide with highest COVID numbers

Leaks in Sydney’s hotel quarantine system have not coincided with higher numbers of positive COVID-19 cases in those hotels, a Sun-Herald analysis has shown, as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian criticised national cabinet’s decision to cut Australia’s intake of international arrivals in half.

The decision came as the number of overseas acquired cases in NSW reached their lowest levels in recent months, even though the state processes 3000 people through its quarantine system each week. Instances of the Delta variant in returned travellers have also declined.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she was disappointed national cabinet decided to halve Australia’s international arrivals.Credit: Brook Mitchell

From July 14, Sydney will take only 1505 returning travellers into its hotel quarantine system each week. An additional arrivals 500 will come through Melbourne, 500 through Brisbane, 265 through Perth and 265 through Adelaide.

Since the end of November, NSW has detected as many as 61 cases (in the week ending May 1) and as few as 12 (most recently in the week ending June 5) within its weekly allocation of 3000 arrivals.

Positive cases in NSW, as well as any passengers with symptoms or who have complex health needs, are moved into three Special Health Accommodation hotels managed by NSW Health.

The virus has never leaked from the Special Health Accommodation into the community. However, 12 infections in people either quarantining in the police-managed hotel system or working in roles directly involved with or adjacent to the system have been associated with returned overseas travellers.

Recent confirmed transmission within Sydney’s quarantine hotels did not coincide with the system’s highest numbers of positive cases.

In the week health authorities concluded COVID-19 most likely spread between travellers staying on the same floor of the Adina and Mercure quarantine hotels, respectively, 38 cases were recorded in returned overseas travellers.

A security guard at the Marriott caught the virus at work in March, during a week when 30 overseas cases were recorded.

There were 32 cases recorded in the week ending November 28, when it was concluded a cleaner at Darling Harbour’s Novotel had caught COVID-19 from a traveller in quarantine.

“NSW has always done our fair share: the number of people coming home doesn’t change the risk,” Ms Berejiklian said on Saturday. She said she was disappointed by national cabinet’s decision to reduce the caps.

“I’m disappointed that the other state leaders didn’t see fit to maintain the number of Aussies coming back home; that to me is a disappointment. But of course we’ll respect what the national cabinet decision was.”

Professor Greg Dore, an infectious diseases physician and epidemiologist at the Kirby Institute, said the decision to cut NSW’s international arrivals was confusing, given the system was seeing lower positivity rates and lower rates of the Delta variant.

There were six cases of the Delta variant among the 25 overseas cases recorded in the week ending June 19, compared with 20 of the 61 cases recorded in the week ending May 1.

“The number of positive cases in hotel quarantine hasn’t increased, and the outbreak in Sydney wasn’t the result of any airborne transmission within a hotel quarantine setting – so it just confuses me as to the logic,” he said.

Professor Dore said that, given higher numbers of returning Australians should now be vaccinated, he believed Australia should instead consider allowing home quarantine for lower risk arrivals.

“At the moment we only have data on the vaccination status of positive cases, and that is only available in NSW, but we should really gather vaccination data from all people returning,” he said.

Asked about Ms Berejiklian’s comments later on Saturday, West Australian Premier Mark McGowan, who pushed for a reduction in the caps, told reporters his NSW counterpart should not criticise national cabinet’s decision, given she had agreed to it.

“She could have a different approach if she wanted to, but she agreed to it,” he said. “You cannot go into the meeting and agree to something and come out and say you do not agree with it. It is not really the Australian way.”

NSW Police said just over 5500 people were staying in the hotel quarantine system on Saturday.

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