The strict quarantine of travelers has not prevented COVID-19 infections in Australia

Sydney: The mutated versions of the Corona virus prompted Australia and New Zealand to consider tightening the decision to quarantine travelers arriving from abroad for a period of 14 days after it was found that it did not prevent infections, although these two countries are considered a model for the rest of the world in managing the epidemic crisis.

On Wednesday, Victoria state authorities called for tougher measures due to mutated versions of the virus that appeared in Britain, Brazil and South Africa.

“It has been shown that it is very difficult to contain these highly contagious mutated copies,” said Victoria State Prime Minister Dan Andrews, when announcing the closure of a hotel in Melbourne hosting people in quarantine after the emergence of the Covid-19 case.

“The quarantine and health procedures should be different now than they were a month or six months ago,” he added.

In Australia as well as in New Zealand, authorities this week began a comprehensive review of quarantine procedures and facilities.

The proposals range from opening quarantine centers in remote areas of Australia to increasing examinations for a longer period of time for travelers arriving from abroad.

Since the beginning of the epidemic, about 320,000 travelers have arrived through Australian or New Zealand ports or airports, and have been transferred to quarantine hotels with the aim of isolating them for a period of 14 days in a room.

And in almost all parts of the world, countries, led by Britain, Canada and Thailand, are trying to adopt a similar measure that has been considered relatively effective so far.

The Australian Minister of Health described this quarantine system as a global “benchmark”. But in Australia and New Zealand, which have largely succeeded in containing the epidemic, increasing voices are raising questions about this protocol.

While the number of infected people in the world exceeded the threshold of one hundred million infections, the number of travelers arriving with the virus increased.

On Wednesday only in New Zealand, travelers from Germany, Tanzania and the UAE came out positive.

The authorities’ most concern is the high number of visitors carrying the virus, with its mutated version, to 105 in Australia. Some of them injured employees working in hotels or people assigned to transport them, as well as quarantine travelers as well.

The virus has spread several times in the past months among the population as a result of hotels, which led to the imposition of closures on millions of residents in Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.

In the state of Victoria, about a thousand employees working in three hotels that recorded cases of Covid-19, were placed in quarantine.

Few would suggest the complete closure of the borders. At present, about 40,000 Australians cannot return home due to the limited number that is allowed to enter the country.

New measures were taken, as employees of quarantine hotels could no longer hold a second job, and the carpets on the floor were replaced with vinyl, and meal times were divided and an empty space was left between each room. However, these measures are unlikely to prevent the virus from escaping.

Adrian Estermann, an epidemiologist at the University of South Australia, said, “It is time to put quarantine places away in order to reduce the risk of transmission to densely populated urban areas.”

Australian authorities have already identified potentially suitable places such as an air force base and immigration detention center near the sea.

So far, most of the measures taken in Australia to fight the virus, from closures, checks, and restrictions, have been decided at the state level.

The Director of Health, Paul Kelly, who defends the system in place, explained that opening centers in remote areas is not without risks, especially in the event of a medical problem because the provision of health care will be of less quality.

In addition, “the stage in which the risk of infection is highest is during transportation from the airport to the institution. Therefore, the longer the distance, the greater the risk,” he added.