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SYDNEY (BLOOMBERG) – The Australian state of New South Wales recorded its first new case of the coronavirus in 25 days after a woman working in a quarantine hotel in Sydney tested positive.
Authorities are investigating whether he was infected in the community or from working at the facility, the state health department said in a statement Thursday (December 3). All five members of the woman’s family were tested overnight and all tested negative for the virus.
Australia has largely controlled the spread of community transmission, but health experts say there is no room for complacency due to the continued risk of the virus entering the community from returning foreign travelers, despite a mandatory quarantine system in hotels. More than 30,000 Australians, many of whom live in Europe and the United States, where the virus is rampant, are waiting to return home.
“This is a good warning to all of us that we have to keep our vigilance,” New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters.
“When you welcome 3,000 Australians every week, and when we know that the infection rate is increasing in all parts of the world, we must always remain vigilant.”
Failed security at quarantine hotels in Victoria, which reportedly included guards sleeping with guests, saw the virus escape into the community, leading to a three-month shutdown in Melbourne.
Meanwhile, in neighboring South Australia, authorities are investigating how two security guards, a cleaner and two returning travelers contracted the virus while in hotel quarantine, spreading a cluster of infections in the state capital, Adelaide.
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