Old protocols used to clear Ruby Princess
Assessment protocols which allowed the COVID-carrying Ruby Princess cruise ship to enter Sydney should have already been scrapped and re-written, a senior NSW Health official says.
A draft document for cruise ship health procedures dated February 19 should have been updated from March 10, nine days before the vessel docked, NSW Health executive director Dr Jeremy McAnulty told an inquiry on Thursday.
The change would have been in accordance with updated information regarding suspected COVID-19 cases from the Communicable Diseases Network of Australia.
It would have included testing of all passengers who had been to any country within 14 days, as well as acute respiratory illnesses with or without fever.
Dr McAnulty said the risk assessment process used by the heath assessment panel to deem the ship low risk before arrival was "no longer relevant" when the ship was granted access to berth in Circular Quay on March 19.
"Have you just told me in effect that should all have been scrapped and rewritten?" Commissioner Bret Walker SC, overseeing the inquiry, asked.
"That's correct, once the CDNA guidelines changed to all countries," Dr McAnulty replied.
Dr McAnulty told the inquiry the CDNA update meant the ship should never have been labelled low risk and explained the NSW Health draft document was not updated to reflect changes due to the "enormous busyness" the department faced during this period.
More than 20 coronavirus deaths across Australia have been linked to the 2700 passengers who disembarked the Ruby Princess when it arrived in Sydney on March 19.
The inquiry continues.
