The Northern Territory has declared another Melbourne suburb a COVID-19 hotspot as a virus cluster linked to a quarantine hotel continues to grow.

February 10, 2021

The Northern Territory has declared another Melbourne suburb a COVID-19 hotspot as a cluster linked to a Victorian quarantine hotel continues to grow.

Sunbury was added to the list on Wednesday after two more virus cases were confirmed at the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport a day earlier.

Maidstone, Sunshine and Taylors Lakes in Melbourne’s northwest were listed as hotpots on Monday.

The latest cases are a returned traveller – who had finished her 14-days in quarantine – and a food and beverage worker.

They join an authorised officer at the hotel, who tested positive to the highly-infectious UK strain after her shift on Sunday.

NT Chief Health Officer Hugh Heggie said the three infected people were working and staying on the same floor at the hotel.

“The decision to declare Sunbury as an additional COVID-19 hotspot … follows on from the initial case linked to what is now a small COVID-19 cluster,” he said.

People who arrive in the NT from 9am on Wednesday who have been in Sunbury will be required to go into supervised quarantine, or they can return to Melbourne.

Anyone who arrived in the NT between February 5 and 8.59am on Wednesday from Sunbury is advised to have a test and undertake self-quarantine until a negative test result is returned.

There have been five cases across three Victorian quarantine hotels within a week.

The Holiday Inn was closed until further notice for cleaning as contact tracing continues.

About 135 staff at the hotel were stood down on Tuesday night.

They were told to get tested and then isolate at home for 14 days, bringing the total number of staff isolating to 220.

Forty-eight guests of the hotel considered primary close contacts were transferred to the Pullman Melbourne to quarantine.

The NT has recorded 103 COVID-19 cases. All have been quarantine facilities.