Quarantined travellers complained for a week before they were moved
Quarantining travellers staying in the Travelodge Surry Hills began complaining about the cleanliness of the hotel at least a week before it was closed and they were relocated.
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller confirmed on Wednesday that health officials and police had received an increasing number of complaints about the budget motel before it was removed from the quarantine program on Tuesday evening and travellers were taken to another hotel.
"Every hotel has had a complaint at some stage, but it's about balancing that and doing the appropriate orders," he said.
Quarantined travellers had to exit the Travelodge in Sydney over compliance issues.Credit:James Brickwood
"But certainly last week the volume of complaints was unusual, not just to police, but to health and also to those organising the hotels."
He said the returned travellers had all been moved to a Novotel hotel in Sydney.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian defended the police’s handling of the quarantine hotels and said she would continue to provide any support they needed.
Mr Fuller said he requested an extra $30 million from the NSW government a month ago and it was immediately granted.
He said police would continue to run the quarantine program, with the help of the Australian Defence Force, and security guards would remain a “second tier”.
He said there would be no change to the operation of hotel quarantine in the state after a second security guard, who worked at the Marriott Hotel, tested positive on the weekend and failed to self-isolate.
"The only [rule the guard] breached is the health orders from not self isolating," he said.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian thanked NSW Police for their work on the hotel quarantine program, which has processed more than 50,000 returned travellers since the start of the pandemic, and said she would not be increasing the cap on international travellers allowed to return to the state any time soon.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian praised the work of NSW police.Credit:Dylan Coker
"I don't feel that's appropriate at this stage because health officials and everybody else involved has a big task ahead of them," she said, adding that she did not want to "overburden the system".
NSW Chief Health Office Kerry Chant warned that more positive COVID-19 cases linked to the City Tattersall’s Fitness Centre on Pitt Street in the CBD were likely to be uncovered later on Wednesday, adding to the new six cases in the reporting period.
Five of these new cases were locally acquired without a known source.
Commissioner Mick Fuller said quarantined travellers had complained about the Travelodge for a week before the were moved. Credit:Dylan Coker
Two of the locally acquired cases included a man and woman from western Sydney who are household contacts. The man was a trainee bus driver who worked one shift while infectious.
"He was wearing a mask at the time, so we do think the risk to any passengers is very low," Dr Chant said.
"But we are working with Transport to identify people that may have been on that route and we'll provide that in an update."
Additionally, cases have been detected in a man in his 60s from south-east Sydney, an unrelated woman in her 40s from south-east Sydney, and a woman in her 30s from Sydney. The movements of these cases led to the health alerts for a Pitt Street gym and Broadway Shopping Centre reported last night.
The remaining sixth case was detected in hotel quarantine.
Riverstone High School, Schofields Public School and Wyndham College in Sydney's north-west have all closed due to positive cases.
These cases were detected after the 8pm reporting period deadline and will be included in Thursday's tally, Dr Chant said.
Of the group, a Year 12 student is being retested after returning an "equivocal" result yesterday, a teenager has returned a result which is "clearly positive" and the two other children have returned negative tests but are being "retested as a precaution".
The new cases bring NSW's total to 3808 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was pleasing to see there were 25,874 tests recorded during the reporting period, although the state was "not out of the woods yet".
"Can I please stress to everybody in NSW that, while we have been doing well the last few weeks, we are by far not out of the woods yet," she said.
"Every day is a battle. Every day we need to be vigilant."