International travellers in South Australia who test positive for COVID-19 infection will be transferred to a new facility from today, with the dedicated Tom’s Court quarantine site set to open.

The 72-bed hotel in Adelaide’s CBD will predominantly house new international arrivals, but rooms will also be available should there be any further cases of community transmission in South Australia.

About 16 SA Health and 41 South Australia Police (SAPOL) staff with medi-hotel experience have been selected to work exclusively in the facility for nursing and security purposes.

COVID-19 positive patients in SA had previously quarantined on two dedicated floors at the Pullman Hotel in Hindmarsh Square.

It comes as SA Health announced that the state recorded no new cases on Sunday, leaving just three active cases in South Australia.

The government has entered a six-month agreement with the hotel, after the new facility was promised during the November COVID-19 outbreak in Adelaide, which was sparked by a guard in a quarantine hotel picking up the virus.

The Pullman Hotel will be decommissioned as a site for COVID-positive patients once Tom’s Court Hotel is up and running, with it only to serve as a standard hotel quarantine facility.

It is part of an eight-point plan put together by the state government late last year to reduce the chances of another COVID-19 outbreak from hotel quarantine.