The risk of GPs continuing to treat their usual patients while working inside Victoria's revived hotel quarantine program is low, one of Australia's leading doctors claims.
Former Australian Medical Association president Dr Tony Bartone defended the decision for GPs to be able to continue in their roles, despite the Victorian Government preventing other staff from working outside the program.
The strongest new measure follows recommendations from the Hotel Quarantine Inquiry, led by former judge Jennifer Coate.
Victoria's second wave of coronavirus was sparked by COVID-19 seeping through the hotel quarantine system, with security workers taking part in other employment contributing to the spread of the virus.
Dr Bartone today assured Victorians a "number of protections" were in place to ensure public safety.
"We need to remember that GPs are trained health professionals when it comes to infection control procedures and the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)," he told 9News.
"They are experts in their field and they will bring to bear all that professionalism to their tasks."
Additional safeguards will also be put in place, with special attention to rostering procedures and GPs using telehealth while awaiting COVID-19 test results.
READ MORE: Mask rules relax in Victoria as home visits increase to 30
"Clearly there is a balance here required," Dr Bartone said.
"Of course any day, a patient with COVID-19 could walk through our practices unbeknown to any of us.
"GP practices are among the safest places to be during this time."
The rebooted quarantine scheme recommenced yesterday, with the first international flights landing in Melbourne in more than four months.
Police Minister Lisa Neville yesterday broke the news that doctors did not have to solely work in quarantine hotels.
"Some of our doctors occasionally need to go off and do some training, primary care training to keep their practising certificates, so we're looking at how we roster and manage that so people are not overlapping and doing those two jobs at once," she said.
"Every single staff member, whether it's a hotel staff member, a doctor, a police officer, they all get tested daily. That is a significant change."
Victoria recorded no new COVID-19 cases today for the 39th consecutive day, with no infections in hotel quarantine.
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