In some ways it is a strange thing to celebrate, but South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (SESLHD) has marked one year since coronavirus screening began at Sydney Airport.
In a post on its Facebook page, SESLHD said staff began screening all overseas passenger and crew arrivals to help contain COVID-19 one year ago this week.
"Around 200 of our nurses and doctors have filled the airport staff rosters since screening arrivals began," the post said.
"They've so far screened over 230,000 people.
"The teams typically comprise a team leader, a doctor, five nurses and a translator.
"Only one plane is off-loaded into the terminal at a time and there is no contact between passengers or crew from different flights."
The post said "kindness and compassion go hand-in-hand with stringent infection control and medical checks".
"Everyone coming back is pretty emotional. They're often coming home because someone's dying," Sydney Airport Health Screening acting clinical nurse consultant Liz Ryan said.
"They've spent all their money on the airfare, they've lost their job or they've just spent months trying to get home to family."
