NT miner may have caught Covid from air conditioning at Brisbane quarantine hotel

Exclusive: Experts investigating whether environmental or engineering factors' contributed to transmission, as pressure grows for purpose-built quarantine facilities

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Queensland authorities are investigating whether the layout or air conditioning system in a Brisbane quarantine hotel caused the Covid infection of a mineworker, whose nine-hour stopover triggered lockdowns in the Northern Territory and health alerts across the country.

As the Queensland government continues to raise concern about the capacity of hotels for returning international travellers and the need for purpose-built quarantine facilities, the state's health department says it is assessing whether environmental or engineering factors" contributed to virus transmission on the fifth floor of the Novotel Brisbane airport.