A man who was arrested after escaping from his room inside a Tullamarine quarantine hotel on Boxing Day claims he shouldn't be in quarantine, because he's a Victorian resident who returned on time.
Police detained the 24-year-old in front of the Holiday Inn hotel, which is close to Melbourne Airport, after he left his room without permission at 2.45pm on Saturday.
The Holiday Inn near Melbourne Airport. Credit:Jason South
John-Lee Berridge told 3AW on Sunday morning while he had been in NSW for nine months, he remained a Victorian resident.
Victorian residents who had been in the "red zones" of the northern beaches were given an extra 24 hours than NSW residents on December 21 to return home, and they were allowed to quarantine for 14 days in their homes rather than in hotel quarantine.
Mr Berridge said his anxiety ramped up after six days in hotel quarantine at the Holiday Inn, where he claims authorised officers told him he’d soon be released. He is now facing a $19,000 fine for breaching hotel quarantine.
“I know it was wrong ... But I had told the medical staff, my anxiety is going to take over and I can’t control myself, and I’m just going to go out and try to leave until I’m forcibly stopped,” he said.
“They need to understand I was told and informed I could self isolate, but when I got here they sent me straight to mandatory quarantine ... authorised officers were giving me misinformation, telling me every day, ‘You’re getting released tomorrow, you’re getting released this afternoon’."
Mr Berridge has now been moved to a complex care hotel in Melbourne’s CBD, for people who need clinical supervision and medical support.
When he exited the hotel, he was met by four officers, who stopped him from going any further. Mr Berridge said there was one constable in particular that “calmed [him] down”.
“When I got out there, there was about three or four officers, then 10 minutes down the track, 20 officers surrounded me,” he said.
“The only thing that stopped me was a constable who spoke to me one-on-one. He was speaking to me about the mental side of things and ... why I shouldn’t [have] done it. He was the only one that had calmed me down.”
A hotel quarantine worker in Melbourne this month. Credit:Eddie Jim
He was returned to his room without further incident, a police spokeswoman said. Police and protective services officers are stationed throughout quarantine hotels for 24 hours a day.
"Victoria Police is working with COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria to investigate the incident," she said.
Victorian government minister Jaala Pulford said the fact Mr Berridge was escorted back to his room demonstrated the state's hotel quarantine program was working.
"I think the experience from yesterday shows us that measures are in place to provide for effective containment of people in the hotel quarantine system," Ms Pulford said on Sunday.
"That person is now back where they need to be," she said, without explaining how Mr Berridge was able to step outside the hotel.
She insisted adequate health services and other supports were in place for hotel quarantine guests.
"I think everybody who enters Victoria well and truly knows what to expect when they arrive ... But what has been built here in Victoria is very special and we need to protect that, we need to ensure we have a robust system in place."
Several guards and workers on Victoria's hotel quarantine program caught COVID-19 from returned travellers and spread the virus into Melbourne , sparking a second wave of infections that led to months of hardline restrictions and more than 18,000 infections. At least 99 per cent of those cases were traced back to two quarantine hotels.
The state reopened to international travellers on December 7, with mandatory hotel quarantine, and is now ordering anyone from Sydney to quarantine in a hotel for 14 days.
A report released by a board of inquiry into the program identified flaws with almost every aspect of the Victorian government's set-up and oversight of the quarantine scheme for international arrivals.
The revamped hotel quarntine scheme now has a dedicated agency, COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria, responsible to one minister.
If you or anyone you know needs support call Lifeline on 131 114, or Beyond Blue's coronavirus mental wellbeing support service on 1800 512 348.
Victoria records no new local cases, one in hotel quarantine
Victoria has recorded no new local cases of COVID-19 and no deaths from the virus on Sunday morning, but one additional case was found in a woman in her 40s who travelled from overseas and is in hotel quarantine.
There were 5854 test results received across Saturday.
Ten cases remain active in Victoria: nine travellers who were infected with the virus overseas and remain in hotel quarantine, and one 15-year-old girl who travelled from NSW and remains in home isolation.
Hospital staff forced to isolate after patient returns positive COVID-19 test
The 58th day of no local Victorian cases comes after 30 staff at the Royal Melbourne Hospital were forced to isolate on Saturday after a patient returned an initial positive test to COVID-19.
The Department of Health and Human Services said an expert review panel was called in to review one case where a low positive result was returned from a coronavirus test.
A spokeswoman said the second test returned a negative reading.
"Last night the expert review panel reviewed one case with discrepant test results," a DHHS spokesman said on Sunday.
"The review followed one case where a low positive result was returned following a coronavirus test. Following review of clinical, epidemiological and testing evidence, this case was rejected and deemed negative."
The Victorian president of the Australian Medical Association praised the hospital’s decision to quickly send staff into isolation after the initial positive test.
"False positives occur," AMA president Julian Rait said.
"It sounds as though all appropriate infection prevention protocols were followed on this occasion."
Federal government signs final agreement for Pfizer vaccine
Australia has signed the final agreement with pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and BioNTech for 10 million doses of their coronavirus vaccine.
The deal was struck on Christmas Eve and would signal a roll-out of the vaccine from March 2021, according to Nine News. Older Australians and front-line workers are expected to be given the Pfizer vaccine first in Australia.
Before it is administered, the vaccine will need to be approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for use within Australia. Internationally, the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for emergency use in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Professor Jodie McVernon, director of epidemiology at the Peter Doherty Institute, told Today on Sunday morning that "vaccines are our hope to have a more definitive solution to this virus".
"The emergency use authorisations in places like the US and the UK come in the face of tens of thousands of cases a day, many, many deaths. It is a very, very different scenario from what we have here,” she said.
"Our regulators have been expediting this review, they are committed to getting the vaccine into Australia as soon as possible but we are not in that same emergency. We do then have the extra time to give the public confidence that the vaccines have been used in public programs, we have had more opportunity to be sure that they are safe and effective.
"We do know that we still have some uncertainties around vaccines, whether they will be effective at stopping the spread of infection. So we should accept that ongoing social measures will be needed for some time.”
Residents of NSW's northern beaches back in lockdown
NSW recorded seven local cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm on Boxing Day, all of which were linked to Sydney's northern beaches.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Sunday that six of the new cases were confirmed as part of the Avalon cluster and the seventh was under investigation, but the person had attended the Belrose Hotel.
From midnight on Boxing Day until 11.59pm on December 30, residents of Sydney's northern beaches are restricted to outdoor gatherings of up to five people for exercise and recreation.
Residents of the southern part of the northern beaches can have outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people for exercise and recreation.
"Our strategy is to nip this in the bud as soon as we can, to make sure we do the hard yards now so we can have normality as soon as we can," NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
With Rob Sharp, Melissa Cunningham
Ashleigh McMillan is a breaking news reporter at The Age. Got a story? Email me at a.mcmillan@theage.com.au
Michael is a state political reporter for The Age.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMieWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZWFnZS5jb20uYXUvbmF0aW9uYWwvdmljdG9yaWEvbWFuLWFycmVzdGVkLWFmdGVyLWVzY2FwaW5nLXR1bGxhbWFyaW5lLXF1YXJhbnRpbmUtaG90ZWwtMjAyMDEyMjctcDU2cTloLmh0bWzSAXlodHRwczovL2FtcC50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3ZpY3RvcmlhL21hbi1hcnJlc3RlZC1hZnRlci1lc2NhcGluZy10dWxsYW1hcmluZS1xdWFyYW50aW5lLWhvdGVsLTIwMjAxMjI3LXA1NnE5aC5odG1s?oc=5
2020-12-27 02:35:00Z
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