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Reuters
Strict restrictions were set on August 2 for six weeks in the city of Melbourne
Nearly all current cases of Covid-19 in Victoria, Australia, can be linked to returning travelers who are in quarantine in the state, a survey has heard.
The survey also heard that guards at quarantine hotels were given “invalid” training advice.
Australian media reported that guards were told masks and other protection would not be needed as long as they kept to a 1.5m social distance.
Victoria is currently in lockdown due to a second wave of infections.
Stricter “stage four” restrictions were imposed on August 2 for six weeks in the city of Melbourne.
On Monday, Victoria registered 25 more deaths and 282 new cases of the virus, making it the deadliest single day in the state since the start of the pandemic.
At the end of March, the Federal Government of Australia said that anyone returning to the country from abroad should introduce mandatory quarantine programs, which are implemented by individual states.
Prof Ben Howden, director of the Melbourne-based Infectious Diseases Doherty Institute, said the Victoria Hotel Quarantine system study found that genomic sequencing data suggested that at least 99% of cases could be detected by people at the end of July. travel abroad.
However, he did not specifically link the cases to people in these programs or to certain hotels.
The sequencing saw 46% of the state’s cases by July 23, he said, adding that they were “incredibly confident about the accuracy of that clustering”.
Barrister Tony Neal QC said the investigation was aimed at determining how the program was structured and who would ultimately be responsible for executing it, as well as what improvements could be made to future quarantine programs.
The quarantine program “fell short of its purpose” to prevent the spread of Covid-19, and for some people in quarantine it was “not clear who was in general command of the operation,” Mr Neal said.
