STATE WORKER DEAL TO REMAIN

TASMANIA’S agreement with Victoria for repatriation flights and seasonal workers will stand despite a coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne linked to a quarantine hotel, Premier Peter Gutwein says.

Eleven cases, including three on Thursday, have been linked to a COVID-19 cluster at the Holiday Inn, amid fears the virus is circulating in the community.

Last month, the two states agreed to a deal that resulted in workers from the Pacific Islands going into quarantine at Tasmanian governmentdesignated facilities over the first half of 2021. In return, Victoria accepted Tasmania’s share of returned Australians from overseas, which stands at 330 travellers.

Travellers from the Pacific Islands are deemed a much lower risk because coronavirus cases in the region have been low. Tasmania has accepted just one overseas repatriation flight to date, where more than 120 Australian citizens returned from India in December.

Mr Gutwein said there were “no issues or implications” to the arrangement in the wake of the Melbourne outbreak.

“What we’re seeing around the country are challenges in the quarantine hotels, especially as a result of the repatriation flights of returning Australians.

“Tasmania now doesn’t have a role in that and I’m pleased that’s the case.”

Mr Gutwein said he had not had pressure from the federal government to accept more repatriation flights.

Public Health Director Mark Veitch said two more locations in Victoria have been declared high-risk – the Commonwealth Bank at 28-32 Kingsway, Glen Waverley, on February 9 between 1.30pm and 1.45pm and the HSBC Bank at 38 Kingsway, Glen Waverley, on the same day from 2.15pm to 3.30pm.