Health authorities find who Brisbane hotel cleaner caught UK coronavirus strain from

Health authorities say they’ve found out how the hotel cleaner who sent Brisbane into lockdown caught the mutant UK strain of the virus from.

Health authorities have tracked down the source of infection after a hotel cleaner sent Brisbane into lockdown when she was found to be carrying the highly-contagious UK strain of COVID-19.

Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young confirmed a man had given the coronavirus variant to the woman, who worked at The Grand Chancellor hotel.

“We’ve found the first person which is so critical,” she told reporters on Saturday morning.

“That’s what I want to do every time – find the first person so we can immediately get everyone into quarantine.”

But Queensland health authorities were not letting their guard down just yet, with Dr Young urging anyone who attended the same locations as the cleaner to still get tested.

“We‘ve now tracked 91 close contacts of this woman. All of those have been tested. They are all negative and are all now in 14 days’ quarantine, and we will re-test them if any develop symptoms or at the exit test on day 12,” she said.

“But I’m concerned about the casual contacts. So those are people that we can’t exactly find out who they are, so I need the message out there.”

Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young says a man gave the UK variant of COVID-19 to a hotel cleaner who sent Brisbane into lockdown. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

She urged anyone from these sites – whether or not they had symptoms – to come forward and get tested “no matter where you are”.

• Train from Altandi Station to Roma Street at 7:00am Saturday, January 2
• Train from Central Station to Altandi Station at 4:00pm Saturday, January 2
• Woolworths at Calamvale Central Shopping Centre between 11:00am and midday, Sunday January 3
• Coles at Sunnybank Hills between 7:30am ad 8:00am Tuesday, January 5
• Newsagency at Sunnybank Hills, corner of Compton Road, between 8:00am and 8:15am Tuesday, January 5

Queensland recorded no new virus cases on Saturday as residents in Greater Brisbane woke to the first morning of its three day lockdown as the state scrambles to contain a mutant strain of COVID-19.

There are 21 active cases across the state, with 14,784 tests in the past 24 hours.

There are extra patrols outside the The Grand Chancellor where a cleaner was found to have contracted the dangerous UK variant of COVID-19. Picture: John Gass/NCA NewsWire

Health authorities urged residents living in Maleny to watch for symptoms after a Victorian woman – also carrying the UK variant of coronavirus – travelled there to visit her parents.

The woman arrived into Victoria on December 26 after flying in from the UK and was tested in hotel quarantine where she was found to be positive.

She was then isolated and did 10 days of quarantine before she was cleared of her symptoms and was allowed to leave Victoria and return home to Queensland on January 5.

She flew on Jetstar flight JQ570 and arrived into Brisbane from Melbourne at 11pm on January 5.

Originally published as Health authorities find who Brisbane hotel cleaner caught UK coronavirus strain from