Coronavirus Queensland: State records another six cases overnight

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has declared Queensland will go it alone on deciding how and when it will lift tough COVID-19 restrictions, but says we can’t “treat the state as a whole”. It comes as six new cases were recorded overnight.

QUEENSLAND faces another month in lockdown and the chance of tougher restrictions at the border with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk declaring the state would go it alone when deciding how and when restrictions are lifted.

Ms Palaszczuk has urged residents to “stay with us on this course” despite repeated low numbers of new COVID-19 cases.

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Overnight Queensland recorded six new cases of COVID-19, taking the total to 1007 with 77,700 tests undertaken.

The state’s doubling of cases is now occurring every 40 days, down from a peak of three and below the national rate of 30 days.

Despite Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday revealing a national four-week blueprint to ease restrictions, a defiant Ms Palaszczuk slapped down Queenslanders hoping to escape the lockdown early.

“We’ll be looking at a number of options but I don’t want to give anyone false hope,” she said.

“What we need to be very careful about here, and I’ve made it very clear, is that we do not want to see those massive spikes that we saw in European countries and the United States.

“I’m saying to Queenslanders that we have your best interests at heart, these are tough times.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Annette Dew

The State Government will begin to formulate a plan for how Queensland’s distancing, isolation and lockdown rules would be lifted but refused to speculate on what would trigger the easing.

“It depends essentially on how Queensland goes over the next month,” she said.

“We’ll go now and work through all of that but of course it’s going to depend on surveilling the new cases and where they’re coming from but also to the rate of community transmission and what areas they may come from.”

Towns and cities outside southeast Queensland could be the first unlocked, with the Premier promising to look closely at regional responses.

“I don’t think we can treat the state as a whole,” she said.

There are 19 COVID-19 patients in hospital, with 11 in intensive care and nine of those being ventilated.

Ms Palaszczuk said Queensland’s testing, which makes up about 50 per cent of the national tests, meant community transmission remained low.

She says border checkpoints are working but warned they “can get a lot tougher”.

“Depending on the number of interstate transmissions, but we’re not ruling that out if we see a rapid increase,” she said. “If we get this wrong it can go horribly wrong.”

CAIRNS HOSPITAL LAB SHUTDOWN

Health Minister Steven Miles said one of the six positive cases overnight was that of a health worker in Cairns, who was in contact with another confirmed case.

Mr Miles said it was “very unlikely” virus was contracted through their work at the Cairns Hospital’s pathology lab.

He said the number of patients who had contracted the virus through community transmission remained stagnant at 39 and that the run of low case numbers was good news.

“We find ourselves in a better position than we ever thought possible,” he said.

Despite the low numbers, Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young this week warned that more positive tests were expected for the state despite the low numbers recorded recently.

Ms Young said more than 85 per cent of cases were in some way related to overseas travel and an increase was likely as more Australians were repatriated from around the world.

“The numbers will get worse because of those people returning from overseas,” she said on Thursday.

“That’s the group I’m concerned about”.

Health Minister Steven Miles. Picture: Annette Dew

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said to the state was facing a twin-crisis, with Queensland’s health and economy at risk.

The slight rise comes as the State Government announced an accelerated works program to fast track the state’s economic recovery.

Construction on the largest gas project since 2011, a $2 billion development in the Surat Basin, will start by August.

It comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison signalled the way forward for easing social and economic restrictions.

The PM yesterday announced a three-pronged plan to allow for shutdowns to be lifted in just four weeks.

He said the country was working on wider, extensive surveillance testing; greater tracing to crack down quickly on outbreaks and boosting local response capabilities.