THE SQUIZ
Another hotel quarantine worker in Victoria has been infected with the coronavirus. She was at work at the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport yesterday when she developed symptoms and delivered a positive swab, and an investigation into how she contracted the virus is underway. It’s the 2nd case of community transmission in 4 days to have come from the state’s quarantine system. There’s also a problem in NSW with an alert being issued by NSW health officials last night after a Wollongong resident tested positive 2 days after leaving hotel quarantine. It’s believed the case was picked up overseas.

JUST AS INTERNATIONAL ARRIVALS LIMITS INCREASE?
Yes, National Cabinet agreed to up the arrival number from 4,127 travellers a week to at least 6,362. That will see NSW and Queensland return to the level they were accepting a month ago, and South Oz and Victoria will also increase numbers into their hotel quarantine systems. Western Oz will continue to run a half the capacity they were accommodating at the start of the year. Asked about last week’s infections of 2 hotel workers, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said the system continued to be the best way to stop the virus spreading from those arriving from overseas. And just “a small number of incursions” have happened despite more than 210,000 travellers going through the system, he said.

WILL VACCINES HELP?
That’s the plan, but travellers will still need to go into hotel quarantine, PM Scott Morrison said on Friday. And with jabs set to start later this month, rollout arrangements being made with Federal Government Services Minister Stuart Robert yesterday confirming a record of vaccination will be accessible by recipients via the MyGov website or Medicare app. It’s important because we’ll need to prove we’ve been vaccinated in the not too distant future. The states and territories may make it a condition of interstate travel, or visiting or working in health care facilities. It will likely be required for international travel. And businesses may need it as a condition of employment or service. So that’s all coming at us…