According to New South Wales health officials, a Virgin Australia flight attendant may be responsible for infecting multiple passengers with the deadly Delta variant of COVID-19 virus on a short flight from Gold Coast to Sydney last Saturday. Officials issued an urgent alert this weekend.Although the flight attendant was positive for COVID-19, it was only after she had completed five consecutive flights. The flight attendant, although symptomatic, was subjected to routine rapid testing. She was placed in isolation once their positive result was back.However, it was discovered that the flight attendant had been identified by contact tracers as a close associate of an existing case, but they hadn't yet managed to get in touch with her.NSW Health wants to notify passengers who flew from Sydney to the Gold Coast on a Virgin flight previously announced. Multiple COVID-19 transmissions occurred on the flight, the agency stated on Sunday.All passengers are considered close contact and should be alert for any symptoms. They must also remain isolated for 14 days regardless of the results.Research has shown that long-haul flights are more susceptible to COVID-19 infection if another passenger or crew member is on board. It takes just 1.5 hours to fly from Sydney to Gold Coast.Virgin Australia stated that the flight attendant wore a mask onboard and followed the COVID and infection control protocols.It was not immediately clear if the flight attendant had been given the vaccine or vaccinated against COVID-19.Crew member in question is close to a positive COVID-19 patient from a Sydney cluster. Virgin Australia has confirmed that the crew member did not know they were close contacts of a positive case until they had completed their last flight today. This was in line with a statement released by Virgin Australia last week.However, the risk to the public should be low since all passengers on Virgin Austalia flight V524 were placed in quarantine last week.Virgin Australia was contacted for comment.
