Staff member at Melbourne asylum seeker hotel tests positive to COVID-19
A staff member, believed to be a guard, at a Melbourne hotel that is being used to house asylum seekers has tested positive for coronavirus.
The Mantra Hotel in Preston, in Melbourne's north, is being used as a makeshift detention centre for about 60 men who have been medically evacuated from Nauru and Manus Island.
The guard last worked at the hotel on July 4, developed symptoms on July 7 and then tested positive the following day, the Department of Home Affairs has confirmed.
Asylum seekers detained at the Mantra Hotel in Preston in June.Credit:Jason South
A department spokesperson said the staff member had minimal contact with detainees or other workers at the centre, and was currently in self-isolation.
"After discussions with Victorian Department of Health and Human Services, specifically their Public Health Unit, the risk of infection to other staff and detainees is considered low," the spokesperson said.
"No other staff or detainees have shown symptoms or tested positive to COVID-19."
The spokesperson said the hotel had undergone a deep clean.
A refugee at the centre, Mostafa Azimitabar, said detainees were told on Sunday evening that the infected staff member was a guard stationed in a hallway.
"Everyone is panicked," he said. "Sooner or later, everyone will catch the virus."
He said the authorities did not have any plan in place for infection control at the hotel, and that hand sanitiser dispensers at the facility were empty had not been topped up.
"The guards are bringing the coronavirus inside," he said. "We are not children, we know how to wash our hands and practice social distancing.
The problem is that they are coming into our rooms several times a day, they bring food and they do not practice social distancing because it is impossible in this small place."
Mr Azimitabar, who has asthma, said he was worried he would be at high risk of complications if he was infected by coronavirus.
"I feel that if I catch it I will die," he said.
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