Coronavirus Qld: Airports the ‘critical’ ground zero as Brisbane lockdown extended

Concerns remain over international arrivals following a case in a Qatar Airways worker, with Brisbane to remain in lockdown for another 24 hours as restrictions are eased on the rest of the state.

Parts of Queensland remains in lockdown limbo as the state’s health authorities continue to battle five outbreaks of the Covid-19 virus, including a new concerning case in a Qatar Airways worker.

Queensland recorded five new cases of Covid-19 on Friday, three locally acquired, forcing authorities to extend the lockdown in the Brisbane and Moreton Bay council areas but easing restrictions in other parts of the state.

The most concerning new case is a Brisbane international airport check-in employee who was in the community for five days while infectious before testing positive to the virus, creating new headaches for Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young.

International arrivals at Brisbane Airport. Picture: Liam Kidston

“I now have five incidents that we’re having to manage with this additional one,” Dr Young said.

“Each incident in and of itself, I’m pretty confident about. They’ve all been very well managed.

“But five of them simultaneously is a lot so we’ll just have to wait and see how we go.”

Contact tracers continue to deal with four other Covid outbreaks involving an unvaccinated Prince Charles Hospital receptionist, NT Granites gold mine workers, the Portuguese Family Centre restaurant and a Virgin Airways flight crew member.

Thousands of close contacts have collectively been identified with those clusters.

The latest case in the international airport worker has only added to the burden.

Dr Young said the woman, who worked at the Qatar Airways check-in counter, was suspected of having acquired the virus at the airport.

“She will be checking in not only the passengers, but she will be involved with the crew and we do know that international flight crew are high risk,” Dr Young said.

“They fly in and they fly out, so we don’t always know which of them are positive, which is why I really and truly insist people must wear masks at our international airports and our domestic airports.

“That is really critical. You don’t know who might be infectious as you’re walking around that airport.”

At this point, the woman’s infection is officially deemed a case of unlinked community transmission until it can be connected to a known case.

Dr Young is still awaiting results of further testing to determine whether the case is the feared, super contagious Delta variant.

The woman’s infection has triggered a push for more airport workers to get their Covid-19 shots, given their heightened risk of catching SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

Dr Young said she was “enormously” concerned airport workers remained unvaccinated.

“We have put in place processes to assist people at the airport to get vaccinated,” she said.

“Anyone who works at our international airport, Queensland Health will vaccinate. It’s really important they come forward.”

Infectious disease physician Paul Griffin said the woman’s chances of acquiring the virus would have “been significantly reduced had she also been vaccinated”.

Covid testing station at the Townsville Stadium at Annandale. Picture: Evan Morgan

“That’s someone who it would make sense to be vaccinated and someone we could perhaps prioritise in terms of how we use the vaccine moving forward,” Associate Professor Griffin said.

“We’re particularly not looking at how we can be critical of anybody but how we can improve things to reduce our chance of more of these events.”

In spite of the anxiety over the Qatar Airways case, Dr Young said she was encouraged by the high numbers of people getting tested, particularly in Townsville and on Magnetic Island, where the Prince Charles Hospital receptionist spent four days on holiday while infectious.

Despite almost 30,000 tests in the 24 hours to yesterday morning, the state recorded just four new cases – two overseas acquired and two infected in the community, including the Qatar Airways worker.

The other locally acquired case is linked to the Portuguese Family Centre cluster, who was already in quarantine when testing positive.

University of Queensland virologist Ian Mackay said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the lockdown lifting.

“We do seem to have these quite small incidents at the moment,” he said. “But it doesn’t seem as they are out of control.

“Queensland acts very quickly to stop transmission.

“Three-day snap lockdowns are inconvenient but they certainly seem to be paying off in terms of us not seeing a grumbling outbreak as can sometimes be seen in other parts of the country.”