Gladys Berejiklian hints ZERO new coronavirus cases have been found as NSW holds its breath after a hotel quarantine guard become infected with ultra-virulent UK strain
- The security guard worked at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth on March 6
- He has the same UK strain of the virus as a returned traveller at the hotel
- Health authorities are trying to work out the source of the man’s infection
- Ms Berejiklian urged other premiers not to introduce border restrictions for NSW
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian hinted the state has recorded no new locally-transmitted Covid-19 cases on Tuesday after a hotel quarantine worker became infected.
Ms Berejiklian admitted health authorities may never determine how the Sofitel Hotel security guard caught the virus.
Genomic testing showed the man, who worked at the Sydney hotel on March 6, had the same highly-contagious UK strain of the virus as a returned traveller at the hotel.
‘We have to accept we may never find the link … similar to the Avalon cluster: we still don’t know,’ Ms Berejiklian told reporters on Tuesday, an hour ahead of the day’s figures being revealed.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian hinted the state has recorded no new locally-transmitted Covid-19 cases on Tuesday
Ms Berejiklian admitted health authorities may ‘never find the link’ between the hotel security guard at the Sofitel hotel in Sydney and how he caught the virus
‘What’s I’m (feeling) very positive about is that until a few hours before this press conference there had been no cases of community transmission since that time.’
Ms Berejiklian urged other premiers not to introduce border restrictions for NSW in response to the security guard’s infection, saying it would be an ‘overreaction’.
Health authorities are trying to work out the source of the man’s infection, as the infectious traveller did not open his hotel room door nor leave his room while the guard was on shift.
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said authorities had reviewed CCTV footage from the night the guard worked.
The guard – who has already received his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine – had no symptoms and had followed the required protocols, Dr Chant said.
She said there was ‘not a clear and obvious breach’ that explained the infection.
‘We haven’t been able to find an exact source, an explanation for how this person became infected,’ Dr Chant told reporters on Monday.
‘We are testing everyone who worked, co-workers who worked with this gentleman to just check there is not someone else who may have been an intermediary that transmitted to this gentleman.’
Quarantine has been extended for those staying on the 11th floor of the hotel, while 167 staff who worked at the Mantra Hotel in Sydney where the man worked an overnight shift on March 12 have also been contacted.
Quarantine has been extended for those staying on the 11th floor of the Sofitel Wentworth
167 staff who worked at the Mantra Hotel in Sydney where the man worked an overnight shift on March 12 have also been contacted by NSW Health
Ms Berejiklian said that while every community transmission caused ‘sleepless nights’, there was no need for premiers to ‘overreact’ to the latest case.
She urged state governments across Australia to ‘give us a chance to demonstrate our capacity to get on top of this’ and show how the vaccine rollout is working.
‘There is no evidence of widespread transmission,’ Ms Berejiklian told reporters.
‘(It) dashes confidence everywhere if people can’t rely on borders staying open.
‘I’m not suggesting there is no risk, there always is, but … please assess the risk against the facts, and at the moment there is one case of a guard.’