Sydney’s quarantine centre built for the worst, opened in 2023

The biocontainment centre was designed just after the 2014 Ebola outbreak, when O’Sullivan says it was recognised that to “really provide state-of-the-art care” for these diseases, a purpose-built unit is needed, rather than a ward that has been retrofitted into an existing area of a hospital. The facility opened in 2023 and has been put to the test once, when initial estimates suspected mpox (formerly called monkeypox) would be far deadlier than was later confirmed. ​​​​Other wards at Westmead are used regularly to treat diseases

of lower risk. “High consequence infectious diseases” is a special categorisation for rare but deadly infections that pose a threat to the community and healthcare workers, requiring a system-level response. NSW Health initially prepared the ward for returnees from the hantavirus-hit cruise, before they were redirected to a Perth facility, and any Ebola patients would also be isolated at the biocontainment centre. Other diseases of “high consequence” include bird flu, nipah virus and smallpox. Although he understands public concern, O’Sullivan says diseases such as hantavirus

and Ebola are “very uncommon in Australia” and unlikely to cause a widespread outbreak. “The reason we manage them in an environment like this is to prevent that,” he says. “They’re not something the general population needs to worry about.”

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