Mutant South African strain of Covid spreads through Mercure Hotel Sydney

A mutant South African strain of Covid has jumped across rooms at the Mercure Hotel on George St in Sydney’s CBD, with three people contracting the same strain of the virus.

NSW Health said in a statement on Wednesday that the three travellers have come down with the South African B1.351 variant.  

The trio arrived on the same flight on April 3 before going into isolation at the quarantine hotel. 

The three travellers were staying on the 10th floor of the Mercure Hotel on George St in Sydney’s CBD

‘All three people, two of whom are members of the same family, tested negative on their day-two swabs in hotel quarantine, before subsequently testing positive for Covid later during their quarantine periods,’ NSW Health said in a statement on Wednesday.

‘The two family members stayed in connecting rooms on the 10th floor of the hotel, while the third person was in an adjacent room.

‘The family members tested positive on days seven and 10 of their stay, while the person in an adjacent room tested positive on day 12.’

The three returned travellers have been transferred to the Special Health Accommodation, where they will remain until no longer infectious. 

NSW Health said it was now contacting returned travellers who had been staying on the same floor of the hotel between April 7 and April 12.

They will be directed to get tested and self-isolate until 14 days after they left quarantine at the Mercure Hotel, as will relevant hotel staff. 

It comes after Covid spread between three family members while in quarantine in the Adina Apartments at Town Hall. 

The three cases are all members of the one family who had been staying on the 12th floor.

All three people, two of whom are members of the same family, tested negative on their day-two swabs in hotel quarantine, before subsequently testing positive later during their quarantine periods, NSW Health said

They are believed to have been infectious for four days while staying at the hotel – from April 8 to April 11. They were then moved into Special Health Accommodation. 

NSW recorded zero new locally-acquired cases of Covid in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday, as well as eight cases in hotel quarantine.

The state government completed more than 3700 vaccinations over that time.

Health authorities also said that a separate case of Covid transmission between hotel rooms at the Adina Apartment Hotel at Town Hall was ongoing, and all contacts located to date have tested negative.

One COVID-19 patient in NSW is currently in intensive care and on a ventilator.