Dozens of positive COVID-19 patients are being evacuated from a quarantine hotel in Melbourne while repairs for water damage are completed.
A sprinkler system within the Holiday Inn on Flinders Street broke at the weekend, flooding a room and causing water damage to four of the eight floors.
All residents of the health hotel will be transferred to the Pullman Albert Park Hotel today after it was identified as the safest option for staff and patients while protecting the community.
In a statement, a spokesperson from COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria said the Pullman Albert Park Hotel was “assessed by ventilation experts and determined as the most suitable hotel within CQV’s current hotel stock to accommodate symptomatic and positive residents”.
It further read, "strict infection prevention and control measures will be followed during transfer to ensure the health and safety of residents, staff and the community."
âHowever, with a relatively small number of new cases, the excellent work that our contact tracing teams have done, the work of lab technicians and so many other people, we are very well placed, but we wonât know, and we wonât be able to make a final call on that until some time tomorrow.â
Victoria recorded two more locally acquired cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, both linked to the Melbourne Airport Holiday Inn quarantine hotel cluster, which has grown to 19 people. The two new local cases confirmed in Victoria on Tuesday are close household contacts of a previously known case and have been self-isolating so are ânot unexpected positivesâ, Mr Andrews said.
16 February 2021 10:38am
There were two new local cases of COVID-19 recorded overnight as the state remains in limbo.
Premier Daniel Andrews said it was too early to decide whether the state could exit from stage four restrictions at 11.59pm Wednesday night. He said the lockdown’s end date would depend on the “individual circumstances of each case”.
Low case numbers recorded in the past few days were a “promising start” but the premier said he could not guarantee the snap lockdown would only be five days.
“I’m able to say that these numbers, you never want positive cases, but these numbers are pleasing and I think we are well-placed,” Mr Andrews said.
Covid 19 coronavirus: Australian quarantine patient evacuated with rubbish bag over head
16 Feb, 2021 12:34 AM
4 minutes to read
The bizarre headgear may have been designed to protect the patient s identity. Photo / News Corp
The bizarre headgear may have been designed to protect the patient s identity. Photo / News Corp
news.com.au
By: Jack Paynter
The first coronavirus positive patient has been evacuated from a Melbourne quarantine hotel after a sprinkler system caused extensive water damage.
They left the Holiday Inn hot hotel on Flinders Lane just before 10am and came out of the hotel with what appeared to be a rubbish bag over their head.