Managed quarantine for international arrivals continues to play a vital role in Australia’s public health response to COVID-19. Through the Continuous Improvement Framework, the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) regularly considers lessons learned in managed quarantine including the outcomes of evaluations, audits and reviews. This supports a process of continuous quality improvement in line with the National Principles for Managed Quarantine.
In the context of recent transmission events, the AHPPC has considered ways of reducing the risk of transmission between high-risk international travellers in managed quarantine and other travellers staying at a facility. The AHPPC recommends accommodating international quarantine residents, or other high infectious risk quarantine residents, separately from other lower risk residents. This may involve designating different facilities or zoning through allocating separate areas in a facility (i.e. designated floors for international or other high risk travellers). In the event that international quarantine residents share a facility, zoning may be implemented by putting groups in cohorts according to level of risk and ensuring that staff do not work across zones.