Hotel quarantine measures have been ramped up in the ACT as the city's fourth repatriation flight touched down at Canberra Airport on Monday afternoon.
Passengers will undergo mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine at the Pacific Suites hotel on Northbourne Avenue.
The flight, from Chennai in India, comes amid anxieties around the quarantine system after a series of leaks from hotel workers.
ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said hotel workers would receive daily saliva testing and staff would be required to wear full PPE in red zones.
Red zones refer to floors of the hotel where returnees are quarantining.
As well, all passengers on board the flight, except for children under five, must have recorded a negative test before they departed from Chennai. Tests will also be conducted on days one, 10 and 12 of quarantine.
The flight is the first repatriation plane to land in Canberra since November and comes as the world contends with new highly transmissible COVID-19 variants, which has leaked to hotel workers in Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.
When asked how the ACT would deal with a hotel quarantine leak, Ms Stephen-Smith said the territory could face a lockdown but it would depend on individual circumstances.
"I have had conversations with [ACT Chief Health Officer] Dr Kerryn Coleman about what we would do if we saw a positive case [and] it really depends on the circumstances of the case and we have seen different responses around the country," she said.
"If contact tracing is going to be likely to be undertaken very quickly and those immediate contacts are going to be able to put into quarantine very quickly without us needing to undertake any further community wide measures then that is what we would do.
"If it looked like that person had been infectious for a few days in the community and there were multiple potential transmission sites that might be when you consider that really short, sharp lockdown in order to undertake all of that contact tracing."
Other measures have also been taken to protect hotel quarantine members who work in another job. She said any staff members who were working a second job would have the option to work in lower-risk areas of the hotel.
As well, they would have the option for a one-off payment from the ACT government so they don't have to work their second job. Ms Stephen-Smith said on Monday she was not aware of any applications to the payment.
The flight also came as a returned traveller from NSW recorded a positive test result two days after leaving hotel quarantine. The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee are having discussions around the infection.
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As many as 150 to 180 Australians were on the flight from Chennai in India to Canberra.
Monday's flight is the first of two government-chartered flights the ACT has accepted so far in 2021, with another flight due to arrive next month.
Ms Stephen-Smith said the territory would be prepared to receive a series of flights over the next six months.
"In some ways it is easier to manage a hotel quarantine program that is ongoing rather than one that stops and starts," she said.
At present, the Pacific Suites is the only hotel in Canberra where returned travellers can quarantine meaning there can only be one flight at a time.
The ACT government has specific criteria for quarantine hotels, including a balcony and a kitchenette. Ms Stephen-Smith said if hotels met those requirements and would be willing to close to regular guests for the quarantine period the government would be "very keen to hear from them".
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