This was published 4 years ago
Restrictions eased for residences, aged care homes in SEQ
By Lydia Lynch
Lockdown has ended for aged-care homes on the Gold Coast and the Toowoomba region, and more people will be allowed to gather in their residences.
Queensland's Deputy Premier and Health Minister Steven Miles said restrictions placed on the Gold Coast and Darling Downs regions, which includes Toowoomba, Goondiwindi and Stanthorpe, would be lifted on Wednesday.
Visitor restrictions will be eased at hospitals in Gold Coast and Darling Downs. Credit: Glenn Hunt
"It is now 17 days since those confirmed cases on the Gold Coast and we have had no further cases on the Gold Coast nor have we had any contact tracing locations in the Darling Downs region," he said.
"That means we can now lift the additional restrictions that were applied [to those regions].
"That includes the restrictions on gatherings β they will now be able to have gatherings of up to 30.
βIt includes restrictions on visitors to aged care and hospitals."
Restrictions will remain in place in Brisbane, Ipswich and Logan until there have been no new cases diagnosed outside of quarantine for 14 days. Wednesday marked day four of the target 14 days.
The eased restrictions come as no new cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in Queensland in the past 24 hours after 6424 tests were conducted.
Mr Miles said the state had recorded "just five cases over the last seven days, which is very promising".
"While we also see other states, particularly New South Wales and Victoria, continuing to make progress, sadly more people lost their lives to COVID-19 in Victoria in the last 24 hours than have in the entire year here in Queensland.
"Tragically, eight deaths in Victoria in the last 24 hours compared to six in Queensland all up."