Gladys Berejiklian has admitted a returned traveller infected with the UK strain of coronavirus may have caught the disease inside hotel quarantine.
Another returned traveller staying at the same Sydney hotel where a security guard and different returnee contracted Covid has tested positive to the virus.
This new case did not have the virus when they arrived to the Sydney hotel, meaning they must have contracted it while inside, the NSW Premier said on Wednesday.
Ms Berejiklian called the revelation the ‘missing link’ authorities needed, but confirmed it was unknown how the travellers contracted coronavirus as CCTV footage did not show any protocol breaches.
The rooms don’t share air conditioning vents or even a corridor, adding to the theory that the person caught the virus while checking in or on something in their room.
‘They are an overseas traveller but they didn’t have the virus when they came into the hotel … because of the timing they [think they] contracted the virus,’ she said.
Another traveller who also had tested positive to the virus was quarantining on the 11th floor of Sydney’s Sofitel hotel.
This is the same level where security guard is believed to have caught the highly contagious UK virus strain last week from a hotel guest, marking the first local case in New South Wales in 55 days.
‘It’s not surprising the case is on the same floor as the security guard and the traveller that had the original case,’ the premier said.
‘Health believes they acquired it after they went into the hotel so we are being upfront about that.
They didn’t have the virus when they came to the hotel.
‘It is only fair for us to classify this as community transmission although obviously, they’re in quarantine and 링크모음 not in the community.’
A general view of the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth in Sydney on Sunday after a security guard contracted coronavirus
Mr Berejiklian said there is ‘no cause for us to be alarmed in the community’ as the positive case is in hotel quarantine.
Health authorities were on high alert after the 47-year-old security guard was on Sunday diagnosed with Covid-19, breaking the state’s 55-day virus-free run.
It isn’t clear how the guard contracted the virus as there were no obvious breaches of health protocols.
However the guard has the same highly contagious UK virus strain as an infected traveller residing on the floor on which he worked.
It was hoped the guard was less contagious after receiving the first shot of the Pfizer vaccine, NSW Health’s Dr Jeremy McAnulty said on Tuesday.
It isn’t clear how the guard contracted the virus as there were no obvious breaches of health protocols.
Pictured: Sofitel Hotel in Sydney
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the latest infection could be the ‘missing link’ for health authorities investigating the state’s first local case of transmission in more than 50 days
The latest infection in hotel quarantine comes as NSW residents can finally stand at the bar and enjoy a cold one after 12 long months.
From Wednesday, revellers in NSW will be permitted to stand and drink at a bar, as promised during the state’s last round of restriction-easing in late February.
The premier on Tuesday reiterated her determination to get as many people vaccinated against Covid-19 as possible, saying the AstraZeneca jab is safe and ‘absolutely critical’.
Numerous countries have suspended their AstraZeneca rollout after some recipients developed blood clots, but Ms Berejiklian is not deterred.
‘I have full confidence in the vaccine and I have full confidence in our health experts.
I certainly wouldn’t have taken it if I hadn’t done my homework – which I have – and 링크모음 I feel completely safe,’ she said.
Within three weeks, NSW will have completed an extra 80,000 jabs and 45,000 new people would have started their vaccine process.
The premier on Tuesday reiterated her determination to get as many people vaccinated against Covid-19 as possible, saying the AstraZeneca jab is safe and ‘absolutely critical’
