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NSW confirms another virus infection in hotel quarantine

The latest case is also related to the Sofitel Wentworth in inner Sydney.

The latest case is also related to the Sofitel Wentworth in inner Sydney.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has confirmed another COVID-19 case has emerged at the Sofitel Wentworth hotel in Sydney.

The returned traveller is quarantined on the 11th floor of the hotel, the same floor where a security guard who tested positive on the weekend worked.

NSW Health believes the person didn’t have the virus when they arrived and contracted it once inside the hotel.

The guard who tested positive on the weekend has the same strain of the British variant of COVID-19 as another returned traveller also staying on that floor.

Ms Berejiklian said Wednesday’s new case presented no risk to the community as they had been in quarantine since acquiring the virus.

“But having said that, it does mean we are still on high alert until the first 14 days passes and we can be sure that everyone who is tested and found to be negative stays negative.”

Ms Berejiklian said the new case “doesn’t change anything in Sydney” and an easing of restrictions will still be announced later on Wednesday.

The NSW government is expected to confirm on Wednesday that people can have a drink standing at the bar.

The security guard who worked at the Sofitel Wentworth followed all health protocols while working and it remains unclear how the virus spread within the hotel.

Everyone on the 11th floor has been re-tested and must stay in quarantine until March 23.

The Premier said until the facts were known about how the virus spread on the 11th floor, no one staying there would be moved.

“I have full confidence in our hotel quarantine system … first [we must] find out the root cause of how the virus got out.”

On Tuesday, chief health officer Kerry Chant said CCTV had been reviewed and health authorities were investigating a range of possibilities surrounding transmission.

The security guard attended six venues while unknowingly infectious between March 8 to March 13.

Close contacts have been identified at only one venue – Pancakes on The Rocks in Beverley Hills on March 13.

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