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The vast majority of the cases of Covid-19 in Victoria can be traced back to a single family that returned to Australia in mid-May who were kept in hotel quarantine at the Rydges Hotel, an inquiry has heard.
The Australian Defence Force has also confirmed that an offer of personnel for hotel quarantine was specifically made to all states and territories.
Dr Charles Alpren, an epidemiologist with the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services, confirmed to the hotel quarantine inquiry over 90% of cases since the end of May could be linked to the one outbreak at the Rydges Hotel, while almost all of the other cases could be linked to an outbreak at the Stamford Plaza Hotel.
The family of four returned to Australia on 9 May, and all four were symptomatic and were diagnosed with Covid-19 on 15 May. On that date they were moved to the Rydges Hotel on Swanston Street in Melbourne.
Then on 25 May, three staff working at the hotel tested positive for Covid-19. From there, the number of cases linked to the outbreak grew to 17. Alpren said 14 of those 17 that were genomically sequenced were linked to the family.
99% of current cases in Victoria linked to hotel quarantine
Alpren said that based on the data obtained by the department from 3,234 of the over 12,000 cases in the past month, 3,183 are linked to the Rydges Hotel cluster.
For the 1,589 cases sequenced from cases with symptom onset in the past month, Alpren said all but 12 were linked to Rydges.
The remaining 12 were linked to a cluster at the Stamford Plaza Hotel, where 46 cases were connected to a man who tested positive after returning to Australia on 1 June, or a couple who tested positive after arriving in Australia in mid-June.
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