NSW Health made several mistakes in relation to the disembarkation of the Ruby Princess, the department has admitted to a NSW special commission of inquiry on the ill-fated cruise ship.
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Gail Furness SC - counsel appearing for the state's health department - acknowledged in her closing statement on Friday there were a number of factors which led to the ship being deemed low risk despite transmission of COVID-19 occurring on board.
The Ruby Princess, which docked at Sydney's Circular Quay on March 19, has since been linked to hundreds of cases and more than 20 coronavirus-related deaths across Australia.
One such factor was the "imperfect" risk assessment form, created by NSW Health to coincide with their cruise ship protocols draft document on February 19.
Another factor was the expert public health panel not noting the change of Communicable Diseases Network Australia guidelines on March 10 to include travellers from any overseas countries as potential COVID-19 suspect cases.
This panel was responsible for authorising the low risk rating, which meant no one from NSW Health boarded the ship when it arrived on March 19 and 2700 passengers were allowed to freely disembark.
"There were two related mistakes. The first was the form wasn't accurate and the fact of the form not being accurate fed into the thinking of the panellists," Ms Furness said.
"It wasn't at the forefront of their mind in order to recognise the inaccuracy in the form ... even though each of them accepted that independently they knew there had been a change."
Ms Furness stated all ships arriving in NSW after March 10 should have been boarded in accordance to the CDNA guidelines.
She said the Ruby Princess "should have been boarded" as cruise ship logs referred to an influenza-like illness on board despite influenza tests returning negative. Some 0.94 per cent of the ship's passengers had reported respiratory symptoms by March 19.
Commissioner Bret Walker SC suggested this log should have also informed decisions about passenger swabbing, testing and disembarkation, to which Ms Furness SC agreed.
But she said there "were a range of other factors" which affected NSW Health's decision-making.
She also accepted the cruise ship logs should have been "read more carefully" and that passengers should have been kept on board and in isolation until COVID-19 test results were confirmed.
The public hearings for the special commission of inquiry have now concluded and Mr Walker must report back to the NSW government by mid-August.
Australian Associated Press
