Victoria hotel quarantine failures 'responsible' for Covid second wave and 768 deaths, inquiry told

Counsel assisting say in final submissions that decision-making breakdown over use of private security meant police preference became the outcome'

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The failures in Victoria's hastily assembled" hotel quarantine are responsible" for the state's 768 deaths and 18,418 cases since the end of May, the inquiry heard on Monday.

After 25 hearings and 63 witnesses over the course of the past two months, the inquiry heard closing submissions from the counsel assisting the inquiry, with the state's second wave squarely blamed on the hotel quarantine program.