Victoria to Restart International Flights by April

Victoria will resume international flights on April 8 following an extensive overhaul of its hotel quarantine program.

The state’s revived program will accept 800 returned travelers per week before ramping up to 1120 arrivals on April 15, subject to capacity and the completion of a newly developed ventilation system. A number of works will occur as part of the revamped system, such as upgrading exhaust fans, after it was found ventilation was to blame for the state’s last virus outbreak.

Acting Police Minister Danny Pearson said the ventilation review has been “vigorous” in nature, with staff analyzing every room.

“This has been COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria (CQV) going room by room, floor by floor, to check on each and every room to make sure that when you open a door … air flows in, rather than flowing out to the corridor,” he said.

Passenger flights have not arrived into the state since February 14, when COVID-19 once again seeped out of the hotel quarantine system, sparking the Holiday Inn cluster and prompting a snap five-day lockdown. It is believed a medical device known as a nebulizer, used by an infectious man inside the quarantine, triggered the outbreak after aerosolized particles carrying coronavirus were suspended into the air, causing the virus to spread on the hotel floor. The man claimed he was given permission to use the device in hotel quarantine, but a review found the man did not tell authorities about his medical device until February 5 – the same day he tested positive and was moved to a health hotel.

Emma Cassar, who heads the state’s hotel quarantine system, today said the working hypothesis was the man’s large viral load – spread by the nebulizer – sparked the transmission.

Additional baggage screening for medical devices will form part of the revamped program following the incident. Ms. Cassar said she was “very confident” in the revised system.

A ventilation review of hotel rooms will be completed by mid-April, the government confirmed. Ventilation recommendations include improving airflow from corridors to hotel rooms and ensuring all guest rooms have adequate seals and exhaust fans. “There is an evolving understanding that ventilation systems may need to meet higher standards,” a Safer Care Victoria statement read.

Acting Premier James Merlino said he had written to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, calling for a nationally consistent approach to ventilation. “Victoria is the only jurisdiction that has done this additional work in terms of ventilation, so we want to share that,” he said.

Other changes part of the overhaul include enhanced Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) requirements across all hotels, with 2200 staff to wear N95 masks. A new online system will also be established to contact ‘map’ staff and their households with a new QR code system. Travelers will be tested for COVID-19 four times upon arrival – up from twice in the 14-day quarantine period – including on days zero, four, 12, and 14. Follow-up tests have also been recommended after quarantine, as well as a day 16 symptom check and tests on day 17 and 21.

The Victorian Government revealed it has accepted 61 out of the 81 recommendations made by the Hotel Quarantine Board of Inquiry. The government has implemented 29 recommendations in full and four parts. While eight will be implemented in full in the future and 20 recommendations have been referred to National Cabinet.

For more information on your options to migrate to Australia, talk to us! Please click HERE.