HEARTBREAK HOTEL INSIDE STORY

QUARANTINED travellers inside a Hobart hotel have spoken of their shock at a positive COVID-19 case being detected there, with some saying they will now not leave their rooms at all.

Tasmania’s latest confirmed case of coronavirus – the state’s 227th and first since May 15 – is a young woman who had returned from Victoria and was in hotel quarantine at the Best Western in Bathurst St.

She is now in a stable condition at the Royal Hobart

Hospital, with health authorities urgently arranging testing for other hotel guests and staff.

Among those in quarantine is Kellie Coy, who had travelled to Melbourne on July 3 following the sudden death of her brother.

She was not able to attend the funeral on July 13 due to gathering restrictions in Victoria – instead having to sit in her car outside the funeral parlour and watch it via a video link – and returned to Hobart two days later.

Now at the Best Western for two weeks, Ms Coy said guests had been able to exercise in a designated inside area, but she was now reluctant to leave her room. “It’s a bit scary,’’ she said. “Now that I’ve found out this has happened, I don’t really want to leave.”

Ms Coy, 55, said she had no concerns about being tested and agreed with the state’s strict quarantine requirements, but she believed testing of travellers should be made mandatory.

“We need to keep our little state clean,’’ she said.

Another traveller, who only wanted to be referred to as Sue, arrived back in Tasmania from Victoria on July 12 after flying there to meet her first grandchild.

“Everything looked OK when I left Tasmania and it just went wild while I was over there,’’ she said.

“All of a sudden I realised I couldn’t get back without going into quarantine.”

Sue said she first had concerns about a possible case at the hotel when an ambulance with lights and sirens activated was at the hotel on Sunday afternoon.

“That was a bit unusual … then we connected the dots

when we heard there had been a case,’’ she said.

Sue said she had been tested on Tuesday and was being well looked after.

“The room is good and they are treating us well,’’ she said.

“The only thing is you don’t get out, so fresh air and exercise are a bit wanting.”

Louise Gore, from country NSW, travelled to Tasmania on Monday to visit her seriously ill father who is in hospital in Hobart.

She must spend 14 days in quarantine at the Best Western before she can see him.

“I’m hoping everything will be OK and I’ll get to see him,’’ she said.

She said she was not too concerned about the positive COVID-19 case at the hotel and was confident that the appropriate precautions were being taken.

A new Tasmanian resident said he found out about Tasmania’s latest coronavirus case via a note slipped under his door.

The man, who has moved to the state from Queensland for work, arrived on Monday and was taken to the hotel. He woke on Tuesday

to find a note had been put under his hotel room door from management to say a positive case had been confirmed there.

He said it was worrying to be at a hotel where coronavirus has been detected but he would be happy to be tested at any stage throughout his quarantine. The man said he had no intention of leaving his room.

The Best Western is one of nine Tasmanian hotels being used for quarantining travellers, with more than 700 people in hotel quarantine across the state.