Danni Minogue (Eva Rinaldi from Sydney Australia / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)
Dannii Minogue controversially being allowed to quarantine in her own home has the support of Queensland’s top medic.
The celebrity returned to Australia from the United States at the weekend with her son, ahead of television commitments. They were both granted special permission to do their mandatory isolation period at a residence on the Gold Coast. The arrangement has raised accusations of special treatment for some, though.
Anyone currently arriving in Australia must serve a compulsory 14-day quarantine period due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. For most people that means staying in a hotel determined by the government. Strict security is also in place. Quarantine rules were updated last week to make returning travellers pay for the hotel stay themselves, which amounts to thousands of dollars.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young defended Danni Minogue’s quarantine exemption, though, saying the reality TV star had “a COVID-safe plan manged by a third party”, according to Nine News.
“There’s no special treatment for anyone,” Dr Young said on Tuesday after the controversy erupted.
“The default arrangement in Queensland is if you don’t have a COVID-safe plan or an industry plan or an exemption to hotel quarantine, then you go into hotel quarantine.
“There are a large number of different groups that have exemptions to hotel quarantine. For instance, consular officials, ADF personnel, people who work in the oil and gas industry, people who work in specific film and entertainment industries.”
There is a renewed sense of anxiety in Australia about the spread of coronavirus while the state of Victoria battles to contain multiple new outbreaks.
The permission for Dannii Minogue to quarantine at a private residence while others face an expensive hotel stay has angered many. Some people took to social media to express it: