Authorities investigate whether German tourists LIED to escape hotel quarantine in Sydney – sparking massive coronavirus scare with hundreds of passengers on same flight forced to isolate immediately

An investigation has been launched into how two international travellers dodged hotel quarantine and boarded a domestic flight, sparking a new coronavirus scare for dozens of passengers.  

Travellers on a Virgin flight from Sydney to Melbourne on Saturday have been ordered to self-isolate immediately after Victorian authorities discovered two Germans on the flight failed to quarantine in New South Wales.

Questions have now been raised as to how the pair avoided the compulsory 14 day quarantine at the heavily guarded Sydney International Airport, as NSW Police investigate whether they gave false information to authorities.

The pair are believed to have used online services to check onto the domestic flight. 

'Police are aware of the matter and are conducting further inquiries,' a NSW Police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia. 

Questions have been raised as to how two German travellers dodged hotel quarantine in Sydney to catch a domestic flight to Melbourne. Pictured are travellers arriving at Sydney International Airport under the watchful eye of police

The two travellers are now in quarantine in Victoria and have since tested negative to coronavirus. 

'If in fact tomorrow the international travellers return a further negative test, the incubation period and the chain of transmission will have been broken and we will release those close contacts from isolation,' Victorian minister Martin Foley said on Sunday.

A Virgin Australia spokeswoman said the airline had asked NSW Health how the pair arrived in Australia without going into hotel quarantine as the plane underwent a deep clean as a precautionary measure, Sydney Morning Herald reported.

NSW Health deferred questions about the matter to NSW Police. 

While NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard declined to comment, federal counterpart Greg Hunt has ordered the Australian Border Force to investigate.

'There are multiple rings of containment within the quarantine and border system and, ultimately, these passengers have been picked up within those rings of containment,' he told Sky News on Sunday.

'But frankly we want to make sure that every ring is impregnable, and so we have asked the Border Force Commissioner to work with NSW on understanding the circumstances.' 

A plane of 130 passengers who flew Sydney to Melbourne via Virgin on Saturday have been ordered to self-isolate

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews believes it could have happened in the line for the bus.

'These people, it seems they are in a queue, waiting to get on a bus to go to hotel quarantine,' he told reporters on Sunday.

'Next minute they're not in that queue. They are instead making quite - if you know Sydney Airport - quite an overland journey to get to the other terminal.

'Tickets have been purchased en route, then they've got on the plane and made their way here.'

Mr Andrews refused to point the finger at NSW Health.

'We picked it up, we are very grateful that we were able to do that, but there should be no sense of criticism by anybody in our state,' he said.

The other 128 travellers on board Virgin flight VA 838, which left Sydney at midday on Saturday and landed in Melbourne at 1.25pm have been contacted and gone into self isolation. 

'A comprehensive public health response is under way, including testing and full contact tracing,' DHHS said in the statement. 

'Anyone who has been at the Melbourne Airport domestic terminal on Saturday afternoon is advised to monitor for COVID-19 symptoms and to seek testing if symptoms develop.' 

One passenger who from returning to Melbourne following a work Christmas party recalled how his wife saw a news article about the potential virus exposure before he saw the text message.

'My wife saw the article first, I hadn't opened my phone and suffice to say there was a lot of colourful words said,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

'My colleague rang up and… basically there was a lot of 'for f---'s sake'.' 

New South Wales recorded no locally-acquired cases on top of the five in hotel quarantine on Sunday.

Victoria celebrated its 37th consecutive day without any new infections as the state moved to a 'COVID normal' level of restrictions on Sunday.  

The two foreigners are now isolating in Victoria and it's not known whether or not they had contracted coronavirus (Pictured: Passengers are seen boarding a Jetstar flight to Sydney at Melbourne Airport in Melbourne, Monday, November 23)

'It's to be determined this weekend, but we will move to a phase where there is an even more limited use of masks in public,' Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told the parliament's public accounts and estimates committee on Friday.

'But the recommendation for mask-wearing still exists around Australia, even in places where it hasn't been mandated at all.'

Pubs, restaurants and cafes will be able to effectively double their capacity with the changes. 

Revellers will also be allowed to stand and drink when in outside sections of venues. 

The cap on attendees at religious gatherings is also expected to be scratched ahead of Christmas and will instead be replaced with the one person per two square metre rule. 

More coronavirus restrictions have been eased in Victoria. Pictured are Melburnians at Flinders Street Station on Sunday

Professor Sutton said authorities were still working through details ahead of Premier Daniel Andrew's Sunday press conference, but confirmed advice around masks, which currently must be worn in indoor settings, will change. Pictured: A woman wears a face mask at Melbourne's Bourke Street Mall 

On Monday five international flights from Colombo, Doha, Hong Kong and Singapore will land at Melbourne Airport as the state's revamped hotel quarantine program restarts.  

International flights were diverted from Victoria in June after security guards at two quarantine hotels contracted COVID-19.

The outbreaks sparked the state's second wave, which resulted in more than 18,000 infections and 800 deaths.

The government announced on Friday it will introduce legislation to charge for the mandatory 14-day quarantine.

The fees will be set at $3000 per adult, $1000 for each additional adult in a room and $500 for children aged between three and 18 years. There will be no charge for children under three. 

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told a parliamentary inquiry it is safe for the state to move to a 'COVID normal' level of restrictions on Sunday