Mickleham’s COVID-19 quarantine hub will open its doors later this month, the state government has revealed.
Known as The Victorian Quarantine Hub, the Donnybrook Road facility will house unvaccinated arrivals, eligible people who are COVID-positive and unable to safely isolate at home, and will provide emergency accommodation following natural disasters such as bushfires. It will also be used in future pandemics, the government said.
COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria (CQV) has commenced onsite training and orientation for about 500 staff, with construction of the federal government-funded centre almost complete.
Victoria’s quarantine hotels will close in the coming weeks in preparation for the hub opening.
The government said the first 250 beds will open at the hub in late February, with operations scaling up through to the end of April.
Police Minister Lisa Neville said hundreds of existing hotel quarantine staff would transition to the hub in the coming weeks.
“A purpose-built quarantine facility ensures we have the resources we need to see through the coronavirus pandemic and any pandemics in the future,” she said.
CQV commissioner Emma Cassar said: “I’d like to thank everyone who has worked in hotel quarantine over the past 18 months, and I look forward to this next chapter as we begin operations later this month at the hub.
“I’d also like to thank our hotel partners for supporting Victoria’s pandemic response. Without them, we would not
have been able to safety accommodate tens of thousands of Victorians returning from overseas.”
As reported by Star Weekly, the quarantine hub has divided the Mickleham community, with some residents raising concerns about the risk of the virus escaping the facility.
In June 2021, Hume council questioned why the state and federal governments had chosen to build the hub “in one of the fastest growing municipalities in the state”.
