August 18, 2020
Melbourne Virus Outbreak Traced to 2 Hotels
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An epidemiologist told an inquiry on Tuesday that almost all of a second wave of coronavirus infections in Australia's hard-hit Victoria state can be traced back to returned travelers in two Melbourne hotels.
Department of Health and Human Services epidemiologist Charles Alpren was testifying at a state government-appointed inquiry into failures in a quarantine system that required Australians returning from overseas to isolate in Melbourne hotels for two weeks.
Alpren said "99%" of Victoria's current coronavirus infections were linked to the Rydges on Swanston and Stamford Plaza hotels.
He said the Rydges outbreak started with a family of four who returned from overseas on May 9.
Some 46 workers from the Stamford Plaza and their close contacts were found to have caught COVID-19 from a man who returned from overseas on June 1 and a couple who returned on June 11, Alpren said.
Melbourne has been locked down for a second time due to the second wave of infections that has resulted in as many as 725 new cases and 25 deaths in a day.
