Victoria’s quarantine hotels are reopening today as the first international flights start landing in Melbourne early this morning.

Key points:

The state has again overhauled its hotel quarantine system, with six hotels initially available to house returned travellers.

International flights were “paused” in mid-February after COVID-19 cases leaked out of hotel quarantine – notably from the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport.

That hotel is among six hotels, including several in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD, that will accommodate returned overseas travellers.

They are: 

ABC News: Peter Drought

Ventilation assessments and other works are underway at a further six hotels that COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria (CQV) expects will be able to house international returnees in the coming weeks.

CQV said international arrivals to Victoria would be capped at 800 in the first week and were expected to lift to 1,000 after more quarantine hotels were approved.

About 120 places will be reserved for Tasmanian residents returning on DFAT repatriation flights.

Victoria’s devastating coronavirus second wave last year was triggered by transmission of the virus from hotel quarantine into the community through poorly trained private security guards.

A revamped hotel quarantine program resumed but international flights to Melbourne were halted again in February after a returned traveller in quarantine at the Holiday Inn at the airport used a nebuliser: a medical device that converts liquid medicine to vapour.

It was believed fine mist from the nebuliser as well as the change in air pressure when hotel room doors were opened and closed, led to the spread of the virus within the hotel.

Cases included hotel quarantine workers, other people on the same hotel floor and their contacts.

The outbreak led to Victoria’s snap five-day “circuit-breaker” lockdown announced on February 12 to try to prevent the highly infectious UK strain of the virus involved in the Holiday Inn cluster from spreading further.

Since that lockdown, Victoria has notched up 40 days with no new locally acquired cases of the virus.

ABC News: Billy Draper

The Victorian government consistently said it would only restart the hotel quarantine program when it could guarantee it was safe.

CQV said the hotel quarantine program had been strengthened following expert reviews into ventilation.

It said almost 5,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine had been administered to frontline quarantine workers and 46 per cent had received their second doses.

CQV also said 2,823 staff had undergone N95 mask fit-testing and returned travellers would undergo COVID-19 tests on arrival as well as days four, 12 and 14.

Staff sign-in processes have been streamlined with a new QR app and there were additional screening measures at Melbourne Airport for aerosol-generating devices.

Other measures for hotel quarantine workers include:

ABC News: Daniel Fermer

Cautious optimism for revamped hotel quarantine system

The University of Melbourne’s head of global health, Nancy Baxter, said the new measures adopted as part of the revamped program were stringent, protective and transparent.

“It hits all of my key points. Staff are vaccinated, protected with proper personal protective equipment, and aerosol transmission seems to be accepted and mitigated against,” Professor Baxter said.

“I guess it’s third time lucky, but obviously you make your own luck as well.”

Professor Baxter said there was still room for improvement, including by ensuring hotel quarantine workers had their first COVID-19 vaccine dose at least two weeks before working in the hotels.

“It would also be good to know that their families and the people they live with are vaccinated as well, because that just gives you one more layer of protection,” she said.

“The more layers we can have, the more protection we have against this coming into our community.”

ABC News: Daniel Fermer

Leading occupational hygienist Kate Cole said the revamped program successfully addressed deficiencies in the previous hotel quarantine system.

“Victorians should be incredibly confident with this overhauled scheme, particularly when you look at the focus placed on preventing airborne transmission,” Ms Cole said.

“Expert reviews into ventilation, mandating airborne precautions like N95 respirators, fit-testing and training, they are all key measures that prevent infection.”

Ms Cole said Victoria was now setting the standard and leading the country in hotel quarantine.

“It’s exactly what we need to see happen all around the country,” she said.

“Without those types of measures put into place in hotel quarantine, what’s at risk is really another public health outbreak.”

ABC News: Daniel Femer