A growing COVID-19 outbreak in a Sydney detention facility for refugees and asylum seekers has increased to six detainees who have now tested positive.
Australian Border Force confirmed the outbreak in Sydney's Villawood Immigration Detention Centre on Tuesday and said contact tracing, quarantining, testing and cleaning were being implemented.
It comes after refugee advocacy groups on Monday reported five COVID-19 cases and voiced their concerns following last year's outbreak in Melbourne's Park Hotel.
Nearly half the detainees held in the Melbourne detention hotel became infected with the virus in October.
The ABF said preventative measures were being followed to curb the spread in the Sydney facility, while a vaccine program had been rolled out to all those consenting from early August 2021.
Some 59 per cent of all detainees at Villawood have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, while a further three per cent have received their first dose, as of Sunday.
Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul said the detention centre was a "disaster waiting to happen".
"Despite previous COVID scares at Villawood the government has done nothing to safeguard the health and welfare of detainees," Mr Rintoul said.
"Vulnerable detainees should have been released long ago."
Serco, the centre's operator, does not enforce the same 14-day quarantine standards for guards who leave the premises as they do for the 450 detainees, according to Mr Rintoul.
"The staff shortages magnify the risk that the Villawood outbreak cannot be safely managed."
The ABF said it could continue to provide opportunities to educate detainees about COVID-19 vaccinations and provide them for those wanting to participate.
