Coronavirus Qld: Link found to bring together clusters

Two Brisbane clusters of coronavirus are now considered to be one after health authorities established a link between them.

Health authorities now consider an outbreak of COVID-19 cases from the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre and the Queensland Corrective Services Academy to be one cluster.

It is understood Queensland Health has identified one case that has links to both groups.

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A further four cases were reported across the southeast yesterday including a man from Greenbank who was another trainee at the academy.

This brings the total number of active cases in Queensland to 24. Three of the four new cases related to household transmission.

It comes as authorities rushed to limit any potential cases in the Darling Downs region after a confirmed case unwittingly visited two locations in Toowoomba.

Restrictions on gatherings and aged care that apply to the greater Brisbane and Gold Coast areas will extend to the Western Downs, South Burnett, Cherbourg, Toowoomba, Goondiwindi, and Southern Downs council areas from 8am tomorrow.

Health Minister Steven Miles said households posed one of the highest risks of transmission, saying it was very hard to quarantine in a home.

“It underlines how important it is that we have restricted the number of people in households,’ he said.

“It also underlines why it was so important that we brought in hotel quarantine.”

Health Minister Steven Miles provides a COVID-19 update.

In the 24 hours to yesterday, 18,763 tests were conducted.

Queensland Corrective Services Commissioner Peter Martin said five positive cases were now linked to the training academy.

“Of those five staff, we have a trainer that initially tested positive and we have two recruits,” he said.

“There is also two additional staff that come from the Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre that happened to be part of a team of 14 officers that undertook training at the academy.”

Mr Martin said officers at Arthur Gorrie were being tested, with authorities having identified a group of about 170 prisoners considered more at risk who will also be tested.

“All of that work we’re hopeful will be resolved by the end of this weekend and in the first hour of opening the testing clinic … we tested some 45 or so officers,” he said.

Mr Martin said under the Stage 4 lockdown imposed on prisons, prisoners were locked in their cells.

“Regrettably that is a terrible situation, it is certainly not what I would want to do but under the current advice from Queensland Health that is the only option that we have to keep the prison population and the staff safe at those locations,” he said.

“Stage 4 restrictions will be in place until the Chief Health Officer advises me that it’s safe to alleviate that Stage 4 restriction.”

About 7000 prisoners are currently locked in their cells.

Mr Martin said the prisoner population had been compliant with the restrictions so far.