Professor Lyn Gilbert, the Commonwealth’s top infection control expert, has angered doctors after appearing to rule out providing any guidance to help prevent COVID-19 aerosol spread in hotel quarantine.

She suggests the required personal protective equipment (PPE) would be too uncomfortable for staff to wear.

Professor Gilbert, chair of the government’s Infection Control Expert Group (IECG), has appeared on ABC Radio to address AMA claims that the group’s “lax” guidance on aerosol transmission is responsible for the current Victorian outbreaks from quarantine hotels.

After stating “there is very good evidence” that respiratory droplets are the major mode of COVID-19 spread, she appeared to suggest the problem was not a lack of guidance on PPE to prevent aerosol transmission, but the inappropriate use of hotels for quarantine.