Three cases are related to an exposure event that involved a medical device, so that medical device is called the nebuliser and it vaporises medication or liquid into a fine mist, Victoria s Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton said. We think the exposures are to that event, this nebuliser, whereby the method of a virus was carried out into the corridor and exposed the authorised officer, the food and beverage service worker and also the other resident. That makes sense in terms of the geography and it makes sense in terms of the exposure time.
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Case one: Authorised officer
Anyone who spent more than fifteen minutes at Melbourne Airport Holiday Inn between January 27 and February 9 must seek coronavirus testing and self-isolate for 14 days, as state health authorities rush to combat what Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews labelled a “hyper-infectious” outbreak linked to the quarantine hotel.
Genomic sequencing has revealed the positive case of COVID-19 - which was recorded in Victoria on Wednesday - is the UK variant of the virus.
Victoria's Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton said the government had been working on the assumption the case was the UK variant.
“That's because four of the six residents who'd tested positive at the hotel had that variant identified in them,” he said.
Mr Sutton said efforts were still underway to determine how the 26-year-old hotel worker contracted the virus as there does not seem to have been any protocol breeches.
“We do need to marry-up that genomics information with the epidemiological information,” he said.
“So, the CCTV footage, the interviews, to really understand how transmission might have occurred.
“We're confident at the moment it's not been picked up in the community but from one of the residents in the hotel."
Novak Djokovic has been roasted by some tennis fans online after he urged officials to ease restrictions on 72 Australian Open players stuck in hard quarantine.
The world No.1, who is not among the 72 prevented leaving their rooms and training in the lead-up to the tournament, called on Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley to arrange practice time for fellow players who are confined to hotel rooms for 14 days.
Djokovic, 33, suggested players could be quarantined in private houses in Melbourne with tennis courts and gym facilities.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews responded on Monday by ruling out any easing of the hard quarantine arrangements.