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By Colin Packham
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s state of Victoria on Wednesday withdrew from plans to allow more people to return from abroad each week, following a cluster of cases linked to a hotel in the Melbourne airport used to quarantine overseas arrivals.
Eight COVID-19 infections have been linked to the hotel after two other people – one a guest in quarantine and the other a worker – tested positive in the past 24 hours, authorities said. ‘State.
The remaining customers have been moved to another hotel to quarantine and more than 100 workers have also been quarantined, authorities said.
Everyone arriving in Australia faced a mandatory 14-day quarantine period in a hotel, including tennis players participating in the Australian Open tournament which kicked off in Melbourne earlier this week.
The cluster has stoked fears of a new wave of infections in the state hardest hit by COVID-19. Victoria recorded more than 20,000 cases last year, forcing authorities to implement a strict lockdown of more than 100 days, the most severe measure taken by an Australian state.
Victoria state health director Brett Sutton said they believed the cluster could be traced to the use of a nebulizer – which vaporizes the drugs before they are inhaled.
“We think the exhibitions are all [related] at this event, the use of a nebulizer, ”Sutton told reporters in Melbourne.
“The virus was introduced into the hallway and exposed the authorized official, the food and beverage service worker as well as the other resident.”
Responding to the latest fear, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said his intention to increase the international arrivals cap from 1,100 per week to 1,300 from next week has been suspended.
Last March, Canberra set a return home cap at just over 6,000 people per week. The government said late last year that 30,000 Australian citizens and permanent residents remained on a register of those wishing to return home.
Suffering from some 22,000 cases and 909 deaths, Australia has been among the best performing countries in the world in managing the pandemic, in large part due to decisive lockdowns and borders sealed to all but a few of travelers.
(Reporting by Swati Pandey and Colin Packham; Editing by Robeert Birsel and Simon Cameron-Moore)
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