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SYDNEY – Australia’s strict border controls have spared it the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, an epidemic in the country’s largest city is pushing authorities to fill what they see as a gap: pilots and flight attendants on layovers from international flights.
From next week, international crews arriving in Sydney will need to stay at two hotels close to the airport and in police custody to ensure they comply with quarantine rules, officials said. Previously, crews were spread across more than two dozen hotels and officials took their word for it to self-isolate when needed.
The change comes after authorities found that the honor system was not fully effective. Police said on Friday they imposed fines of AU $ 1,000, or around $ 760, on 13 crew members. Police said several crew members, at least one of whom arrived on a flight from South America in early December, had left their hotels to visit local businesses.
Australia’s success in containing the coronavirus hinges in part on the geography of its island, which makes it easier for authorities to control who enters the country. Australia closed its international border to tourists in March, and returning citizens are required to quarantine, usually in a hotel, at their expense for 14 days. Australia has recorded around 28,000 cases and only 908 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Strong tracing programs have also helped officials track close contacts of coronavirus cases to notify them of isolation, which can stop the spread of the virus at the start of an outbreak without requiring widespread lockdowns.
Other countries, including the United States, have not closed their international borders to the same extent as Australia and have not strictly enforced quarantine requirements. Angela Webster, professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of Sydney, said the coronavirus is so widespread in the United States that at this point widespread vaccination is needed and an Australian-style containment strategy would not work not.
How to manage seagoing personnel is a delicate balancing act for government officials. International flights are needed to transport important cargo, including possible coronavirus vaccines, as well as repatriated Australians living abroad. Up to 3,000 crew members pass through Sydney each week, according to local officials.
“There are unfortunately a few occasions where people have broken guidelines or have in fact chosen not to self-isolate when they should have been,” said Gladys Berejiklian, Premier of the State of New Wales of the South, which includes Sydney.
Globally, the airline industry has campaigned against stringent testing and quarantine requirements for aircrew, arguing it would make flights too expensive and inconvenient for airlines.
Subhas Menon, chief executive of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, said carriers want to avoid requiring crews to quarantine for 14 days like normal travelers. But he said the increased security to ensure crews stay in their hotels for a stopover of one or two nights before their next itinerary is reasonable.
“If they want to make sure people are going to stay in their rooms, it’s the government’s right,” he said, adding that so far Australia hasn’t been much more strict for flight personnel than other countries.
After weeks of low community transmission, officials in Sydney say 28 people in the same group have tested positive for the virus in the past few days. Genomic testing shows the strain of the virus likely originated in the United States and is similar to a strain found in a returning traveler who was in quarantine at a hotel earlier in December.
It is not yet clear what caused the outbreak or if there is a link between the returning traveler and the rest of the cases. Authorities have said it is possible that a crew member may be in contact with someone. These concerns emerged earlier in the week when a worker who drives flight attendants from Sydney Airport to hotels tested positive, although officials said the driver did not appear to be linked to the other cases.
“We are in the midst of a 1 in 100 year pandemic,” said Brad Hazzard, the local Minister of Health in Sydney. “Don’t let complacency creep in.”
The new outbreak is hitting just as many Australians prepare to travel for the Christmas holidays. Australian states had only recently opened their internal borders after months of travel restrictions. Some states on Friday said people who traveled to Sydney’s northern beaches area – the locality at the center of the outbreak – would not be allowed in without a mandatory 14-day quarantine. Residents of this region have also been urged to stay in their homes for the next three days.
Some people who heard the call from health officials to get tested said they stood in line for hours.
Josh Buckingham, 38, and his partner, Claire Edwards, 34, were tested in Sydney on Friday because they wanted to be sure not to pass the virus on to their parents. Mr Buckingham also said that a person who had tested positive for the coronavirus had visited a cafe he also frequented recently.
“We feel like groupies, like we are chasing the virus across the country,” said Mr Buckingham, who was locked up in Melbourne earlier in the year. “It just feels like we’re a little cursed.”
—Alice Uribe contributed to this article.
Write to Mike Cherney at [email protected]
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