Airflow in Perth quarantine hotels to be urgently assessed

WA’s former Chief Health Officer has handed down some recommendations following a review into the states hotel quarantine system.
The investigation was sought after after a Perth quarantine security guard became infected with COVID-19, plunging parts of the state into a five-day lockdown.
Professor Tarun Weeramanthri found air flow and ventilation in the facilities may have caused the security guard to be infected.
He said it’s plausible the virus was transmitted through air flowing from the rooms with infected returned travellers in side.
“It could be both airflow from the room, under the door, into the corridor, plus episodes if the door is open where a greater amount of air flows through,” he said.
“We need to asses hotels very carefully in terms of those potential risks, if there is a positive case inside a room.”
Mechanical engineers and health experts will now test the airflow and ventilation in Perth’s hotel quarantine facilities
“I thought it was urgent that further assessment needed to be done and in the interim that further protective measures needed to be introduced.”
(Photo: Getty Images)