Victoria will welcome the first cohort of unvaccinated international travellers to its newly-built $200 million quarantine hub within days.
The Victorian Quarantine Hub, which will replace hotels and become the state's only quarantine site from April, will officially open to residents on Monday.
Police Minister Lisa Neville and COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria Commissioner Emma Cassar toured the facility, which is located at Mickleham in Melbourne's north, on Saturday.
"The Omicron variant has shown us we must continue to be flexible in our pandemic response - and the purpose-built Victorian Quarantine Hub will be vital to how we manage pandemics today and into the future," Ms Neville said.
Ms Cassar said the hub's open-air setting would "eliminate" many of the challenges hotel quarantine posed.
The site can accommodate up to 1000 residents at any one time with standalone cabins allowing for constant fresh air flow, individual ventilation systems and CCTV monitoring.
Guests will be given access to in-house electronic food ordering and entertainment to minimise contact between residents and the site's 560 staff. The hub's cabin-style accommodation includes entry and exit points via outdoor decks to prevent the virus from spreading through shared corridors.
The site is split into four villages, with all services and amenities delivered directly onside to limit unnecessary internal or external movement.
Staff are being trained on-site, with other final preparations underway including stress-testing all systems to ensure infection prevention and control processes are in place before residents arrive.
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