Hotel quarantine workers will be able to apply for ACT government payments so they don't have to take shifts at a second job, Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith has said.
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Ms Stephen-Smith confirmed the support measure on Thursday, as she announced the first government-chartered repatriation flight to Canberra in 2021 was due to arrive on Monday.
The flight will carry 150 to 180 passengers departing from Chennai, India, and will touch down in Canberra on the afternoon of February 8.
It will be the first real test of the ACT's hotel quarantine system since November, when a flight carrying 150 returning Australians arrived from Singapore.
One risk point which has emerged in Australia's largely successful hotel quarantine system has been the use of casual workers who hold multiple jobs.
As part of efforts to manage the risks in the ACT, Ms Stephen-Smith said casuals who worked multiple jobs would have the option of filling positions in "lower-risk" parts of the hotel.
They would also have the option of applying for a one-off payment from the ACT government so they don't have to work their second job.
Ms Stephen-Smith said applications would be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
The flight scheduled to land on Tuesday is the first of two flights the ACT has taken on so far in 2021, with the second flight to due to arrive in mid-March.
They are two of the 20 government-charted flights for Australians returning home.
Upon arrival, passengers will be required to quarantine at the Pacific Suites Hotel, which was used for the ACT's previous repatriation flights.
Pacific Suites was the only hotel willing to participate in the quarantine program that also met the government's requirements, including access to kitchenettes in hotel rooms and balconies or windows that could open so those in quarantine could get fresh air.
ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith told ABC Radio Canberra the ACT government would only take on one repatriation flight at a time and only if there was a limited number of people in managed quarantine.
"We have said before that we couldn't take a flight if we had more than 300 people in managed quarantine," she said.
Ms Stephen-Smith said she was not frustrated at the fact only one hotel in Canberra could participate in the quarantine system.
"There's no point being disappointed or frustrated, it is what it is," she said.
"At the moment, we're really only in a position to take one flight at a time as long as we have access to that hotel.
"It is a really big logistical effort to support even one repatriation flight for our public health officials as there's a lot of support that's provided to people in hotel quarantine.
"It's not just about physical health - there's a lot of mental health support, there's a lot of logistical support, obviously there's compliance and security and we have ACT Policing doing that, so it's a draw on their resources as well."
During a COVID-19 update on Thursday afternoon, Ms Stephen-Smith said the government would introduce daily saliva tests for hotel quarantine workers alongside weekly nasal swab tests.
"The technology and the research in relation to the saliva-based testing has moved on a long way from what it was a few months ago," she said.
"This technology has now been used in Victoria and NSW for some weeks and we're really confident.
"It's not as good as the nasal swab, partly because of the quality of the sample you get in saliva testing, but it is a pretty good test."
Following a question about mask wearing requirements in hotel quarantine, Ms Stephen-Smith said workers would be required to wear full PPE in red zones at hotels.
She said red zones included floors of the hotel where people in quarantine were staying.
When asked if a remote quarantine facility would be a safer option than hotel quarantine Ms Stephen-Smith said remote facilities could be logistically difficult.
"When you talk about moving quarantine to a remote or regional area where are the staff going to come from, where are they going to stay, where are they going to live while they're in that area?" she said.
"You're asking [workers] to be away from their family, probably for an extended period of time, because once you set up that facility, you'll probably want to use it pretty much continuously for quarantine.
"As others have pointed out, you're then further away from major public health facilities as well.
"We have said the whole way though ... there is potential for leaks of cases coming from hotel quarantine but if we identify those quickly and if we put people into quarantine quickly, we're not seeing that turn into chains of transmission and outbreaks of community transmission."
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