Victoria has followed the lead of Queensland and New South Wales (NSW) by cracking down on a “loophole” that allowed international airline crew to avoid hotel quarantine. New laws make it mandatory for airline crews and technicians from international carriers transiting through Melbourne to enter the state’s rebooted hotel quarantine system. Under a previous exemption, incoming flight staff from overseas were allowed to quarantine at home or an airline-approved hotel until departure. That was no longer permitted from midday on Wednesday. Victoria’s COVID-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar said about 100 international aircrew members are now based at a quarantine hotel near Melbourne airport. “This is our way of keeping the airline industry flying,” he told reporters on Thursday. The new rules are similar to those recently introduced in Queensland and NSW, where a Qantas crew member tested positive for coronavirus after flying from Darwin to Sydney without quarantining. A government spokeswoman told …