Shocking images expose the awful hotel quarantine mistakes that doomed Melbourne to horror second lockdown - and reveal a STUNNING coincidence
- Images shown to inquiry into Victoria's hotel quarantine showed major breaches
- Quarantine guests strolled to a convenience store despite mandatory isolation
- Fittingly, street sign outside the COVID-19 quarantine facility called 'Rona Walk'
- 'From my observations exclusion zones are being poorly managed,' e-mail said
Shocking COVID-19 hotel quarantine breaches have been exposed in photos showing guests walking freely to a convenience store from a Melbourne facility.
The images taken outside the Pan Pacific Melbourne in the city's South Wharf were sent to Victoria Police Commander Tim Tully and given to the inquiry into the state's bungled hotel quarantine program on Tuesday.
Quarantined guests were pictured strolling out of the hotel unchecked next to a street sign fittingly named 'Rona Walk'.
Commander Tully was sent one email by a former officer on April 15 reading: 'We have got the quarantined people out again this morning. One has tried to enter a convenience store on-site.'
Stunning images have shown hotel quarantine guests who were ordered to isolate inside their rooms walking to a nearby convenience store
'I happen [sic] to see one guest go down Rona Walk and stand in front of the Urban Hub [grocery store],' a separate email read.
'The guard went and spoke to him and he went back into the exclusion area.'
Another email said staff had seen someone outside with what appeared to be a takeaway coffee.
'From my observations the exclusion zones are being poorly managed,' the email read.
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The pictures were forwarded to Assistant Commissioner Mick Grainger and then onto the state's Department of Health and Human Services.
The inquiry on Tuesday also heard from an epidemiologist Dr Sarah McGuinness who said after the outbreaks at the Rydges and Stamford Plaza facilities she discovered staff at the latter were 'not adequately educated in hand hygiene and PPE'.
She said she 'saw a DHHS officer inside a security guard room handling paperwork … before returning to a room with nursing PCA and DHHS staff', The Guardian reported.
Guests were pictured strolling out of the hotel unchecked next to a street sign fittingly named 'Rona Walk'
One email given to the inquiry said staff had seen someone outside with what appeared to be a takeaway coffee
She said what she observed could potentially lead to cross-contamination between different types of workers at hotels.
Victoria on Tuesday reported 55 new coronavirus cases and eight deaths as Premier Daniel Andrews was slammed over his 'unrealistic' target to end lockdown.
Mr Andrews unveiled his long-awaited four-step roadmap on Sunday, revealing Melbourne will continue under strict curfew and lockdown until the end of September.
Moving between the stages of the roadmap relies on new infections dropping to five or fewer in one major step, and no new cases for two weeks for the final phase.
Pictured: The Pan Pacific hotel where guests were seen walking to a convenience store in the shocking images
Prime Minister Scott Morrison slammed the state's plan and argued the same standards would put Sydney under curfew.
'The plan that was outlined yesterday, I hope, is a worst-case scenario,' he said on Monday.
'Under the thresholds that have been set in that plan, Sydney would be under curfew now.'
