Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

With the primary quarantine facility on Christmas Island now at capacity from a public health and quarantine perspective, the government has selected the Howard Springs accommodation facility because it is well equipped for public health and quarantine purposes. I am advised the Chief Medical Officer and the Minister for Health visited the temporary quarantine facility at Howard Springs on Friday and report that there is no threat to the community from people being housed at the Howard Springs facility. The government Chief Medical Officer, Professor Brendan Murphy, said:

… people staying at the Howard Springs Accommodation Facility were unlikely to become infectious and their health would be closely monitored.

He stated:

It is important people living in and around Howard Springs know the novel coronavirus can only be transmitted by close contact with an infectious person and cannot be spread through the air.

The Chief Medical Officer has also said:

… I am confident the security and public health measures put in place will prevent any risk to the community’s health.