Murray Olds: Brisbane quarantine hotel evacuated as six cases are linked to cluster

A woman who tested positive for the highly contagious strain of COVID-19 was able to leave quarantine at Brisbane's Hotel Grand Chancellor to go to hospital with her father, The Courier-Mail has revealed.
The newspaper reports an ambulance was called to the hotel on Monday night for the man, aged in his 40s, following a medical complaint.
He was reportedly accompanied to the Royal Brisbane Hospital by his daughter, a woman aged in her 20s.
She is believed to have come into contact with a number of people outside the quarantine bubble and reportedly did not return to the hotel via Queensland Ambulance Service transport.
The pair had been tested but returned positive results after the alleged breach of the quarantine system on January 11.
The Courier-Mail reports she was not knowingly at fault.
In a statement, Queensland Health said:
"Queensland Health is aware of an article regarding an alleged COVID-19 quarantine breach.
"We are concerned some early reporting has misrepresented this situation and it's important people understand the facts.
"In circumstances where a person accompanies a relative to hospital for medical treatment, full PPE and safety guidelines are followed. This occurs even if a patient is being transported for non-COVID related medical issues.
"Quarantine guests are transported to and from the hospital by Queensland Ambulance Service, who have been safely transporting hotel quarantine guests for almost a year.
"All protocols were followed in this case. Guests were transported from and returned to the hotel by Qld Ambulance Service while in appropriate PPE. The suggestion the person caught a ride-share back to the hotel is untrue. Full and proper COVID-19 PPE protocols were followed while these guests were in the hospital.
"We have successfully managed the quarantine of over 100,000 people in Queensland, and have not had a single case because of the movement of these people."
According to Queensland Health, the six cases in the hotel cluster include a man in his 30s and his female partner in her 30s who both arrived from the UK on December 30, a female hotel cleaner in her 20s and her male partner in his 20s, and the father and daughter who arrived from Lebanon on January 1.
The guests to test positive were all in quarantine on the seventh floor.
Greater Brisbane's three-day lockdown, sparked after the cleaner tested positive for the UK coronavirus strain, lifted at 6pm on Monday.

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