There were two new cases in hotel quarantine, and more than 16,000 people were tested. Our testing rates are not where we would like them to be, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
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NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant echoed the premier s calls for increased testing, saying the community could not fully enjoy low transmission rates unless there is certainty around underlying chains of community transmission. It is critical at this time in the response that we mop up any transmission chains, but also I would urge you to go about practising those COVID-safe practices, she said. Do not become complacent as we indicate no cases of community-acquired infection. It is important, because if there are any remnant viruses transmitting in the community your actions, by maintaining that single distancing, wearing those mask in the settings we have asked you to, getting a COVID test, and practising good hand hygiene and following the rules around how many visitors to
NSW will not consider shifting its hotel quarantine venues from Sydney to the regions, with the state's health minister saying such a move would not be logical.
There is an urgent warning for any NSW residents or visitors who quarantined at the Grand Chancellor Hotel in Brisbane.
Anyone who completed their 14-day isolation there must immediately get tested and go into isolation for another two weeks, from the date they were last at the hotel.
They must also contact NSW Health urgently.
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Six cases of the UK COVID-19 variant have now been linked to the hotel, and the variant is known to spread more easily from person to person than other strains, NSW Health said.
The Queensland Government has notified NSW Health there were NSW people staying at the hotel who have since returned home.
International travellers could be sent to remote Outback camps to self-isolate for 14 days after coronavirus again leaked from hotel quarantine.
The Queensland Government is reportedly considering the drastic move after being rocked by a mystery Covid cluster at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Brisbane, which could became a blueprint for other states.
A deeply concerned Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Wednesday demanded immediate changes to the way mandatory quarantine is administered in Australia.
Her calls came after six people at the hotel - four quarantining guests, a cleaner and her partner - contracted the highly-contagious UK strain of coronavirus.
Authorities have yet to work out how the worker, who was infectious in the community for five days, picked-up the virus from a man returning from Britain.