Air crew loophole jeopardising Australia’s elimination strategy
Health authorities are rushing to close the quarantine loophole that allows potentially infectious international air crew to interact with locals.
A Sydney Airport driver has today been diagnosed with COVID-19, and genome sequencing is underway to confirm the source.
The infection of a hotel worker by a US air crew earlier this month broke a 26-day streak of zero cases.
Respond Global founder Dr Ian Norton told Luke Grant the issue needs to be urgently addressed.
“To call a spade a spade, we are really looking for elimination at this stage, by the policies that are being chased.
“The way to maintain that is a strong border.
“It’s tough for [air crew], for their mental health – they’re already doing a difficult job and they need to … socialise. But this virus is 80 or even 90 per cent transmitted by interpersonal contact.”
Click PLAY below to hear the full interview
Image: Getty