Following now-viral images of Sydney Airport flooded with arriving international passengers ignoring social distancing rules and not being health checked has seen the NSW health department order nurses and biosecurity staff to combat the spread of COVID-19 further in the country.
The video was posted on social media by Sally Prosser, who told the ABC it was filmed by a family member.
“I just feel like it was a real kick in the guts to everyone out there doing the right thing,” Prosser told ABC. “At the frontline, there’s nothing, there’s no-one even encouraging people to stand apart.”
Sydney Airport said in a statement it had now placed security guards in its terminals to “remind people of their obligations”.
Previously, biosecurity staff and nurses were only directed to test passengers who had been in COVID-19 high-risk countries in the past two weeks. Random temperature checks were also in place.
“Today all passengers are undergoing increased health screening,” the union said, via The Guardian Australia. “The testing space is too small for all passengers, and disembarking is not being staggered to allow for social distancing.”
Now upon arrival, all international passengers will undergo a temperature check.
“It falls upon every single one of us, at the state level, at the federal level, and right across the community, to keep working to get this right, to maintain that 1.5 to 2m distance from one another so that we can slow the spread of this virus”, Federal tourism minister Simon Birmingham told the Today Show in response to the video footage.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison also imposed a directive for all returning passengers to self-isolate for a period of 14 days, regardless of whether or not they feel ill.
