Victorian hotel quarantine inquiry told ‘patient zero’ ordered to reuse PPE

A SECURITY guard has given explosive evidence to the Victorian hotel quarantine inquiry, saying he was told to hide potentially-infected masks and gloves in his pocket to cover up a lack of personal protective equipment in the

COVID-riddled Rydges hotel.

The man, who is potentially the “patient zero’’ security guard who first caught the virus from infected guests, said he had to ration his PPE and stash it in his pockets out of sight of the hotel cameras.

The man known as “Security 16’’ worked as a food delivery driver while awaiting the results of a COVID test, and at a warehouse after testing positive. The inquiry was told he was hired by WhatsApp message.

A second, more senior security guard also gave evidence that there was a “clear difference’’ between the way the quarantine hotels were being run and the way “COVID hotels’’ – set up to house infected health workers – operated. The man known as “Security 2’’ also said guards did not wear gloves at the COVID hotel, “because they were giving guards a false sense of security”.

It comes as professional fighter Kaan Ofli – who returned to Melbourne from Thailand – revealed he was omitted from hotel records for 10 of the 14 days he spent in quarantine at the Pan Pacific. For this time he and his partner were served up food portions for just one person, not two.

“My partner found it humiliating to have to call and plead for the basics, it was really disheartening,’’ he said.

He said he was also very “hurt’’ to discover he had been eating non-halal meat for 10 days, with the discovery coming shortly before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.