We ve tested, we ve trained and we are ready to go, he said. We ve gone through these hotels room by room, floor by floor, to make sure that they are safe. We have refined the program accordingly.
The state s revived program will accept 800 returned travellers per week before ramping up to 1120 arrivals on April 15.
Passenger flights have not arrived into the state since February 14, when COVID-19 once again seeped out of the hotel quarantine system, sparking the Holiday Inn cluster and prompting a snap five-day lockdown.
The revived program is the third time the embattled hotel scheme has been relaunched. (Nine)
No new cases as first international flight arrives, hotel quarantine restarts
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Melbourne has welcomed its first international arrivals in two months as the stateâs troubled hotel quarantine program begins for a third time.
Sri Lankan Airlines flight UL604 from Colombo was the first flight to arrive at 4.24am on Thursday, carrying 11 passengers who will spend two weeks in quarantine at the InterContinental Hotel in Melbourneâs CBD.
Returning travellers arrive at the Intercontinental Hotel to begin their quarantine period.
Credit:Jason South
Returned travellers land in Victoria for the first time in two months dailymail.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailymail.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Victoria s much-maligned hotel quarantine program has resumed, with international flights to touch down in the state for the first time in almost two months.
Some 106 returned travellers will arrive at Melbourne airport from 4.30am on Thursday aboard flights from Colombo, Doha, Dubai and Singapore.
They will be taken to the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport and the Intercontinental on Collins Street, where they will stay for a fortnight.
The state hasn t accepted returned travellers since February 13, when workers contracted the UK strain of COVID-19 from guests at the Holiday Inn.
The outbreak, which grew to 24 cases, triggered a statewide five-day lockdown.
Coronavirus Victoria: Quarantine hotel doctors working at more than one site theage.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theage.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.