Covid Qld: Cluster fears over mystery Gold Coast teen case
The Gold Coast is the centre of another Covid scare after it was revealed an unvaccinated teenager who tested positive for the virus in a mysterious new case is part of a large family with “multiple” members believed to also be infected.
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The Gold Coast is the centre of another Covid scare after an unvaccinated teenager tested positive for the virus in a mysterious new case.
The 17-year-old is understood to be related to a large family from Tweed Heads, ‘multiple’ members of which are believed to have been infected.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told state parliament on Tuesday that the teen had tested positive after presenting to an unnamed hospital emergency department with a headache.
She said he was a close contact of ‘someone who travelled from NSW’.
“Investigations are under way into how that person arrived into Queensland,” she said.
But Queensland Health would not provide further detail, saying ‘we have no further information beyond what the Premier provided today’.
The Courier-Mail understands the 17-year-old is linked to a worrying new family cluster at Tweed Heads. He is believed to have gone to Robina Hospital before being admitted to Gold Coast University Hospital after testing positive.
Two new cases were reported in Tweed Shire last week after a man who attended Tweed Heads Hospital for treatment for another condition displayed Covid symptoms, including coughing, and tested positive.
Hospital staff who had contact with the man had to go into quarantine.
The Miami to Coolangatta bus route was added to the list of exposure sites on Tuesday after the teen‘s positive case.
Anyone who caught the 700 bus between 8-830am on October 19, 12.30pm and 2pm the same day and 12.30pm and 2pm on October 20 is considered a low-risk contact.
In a statement, a NSW Health said a NSW resident had tested positive to Covid-19 after visiting family on the Gold Coast.
“Close contacts have been identified and NSW Health is working with its counterparts in Queensland Health on contract tracing,” a spokesman said.
“To protect patient privacy, no further details will be disclosed.”
The teen was one of three new Covid-19 cases revealed by the Premier on Tuesday
They also include a Gympie truck driver who visited Bundaberg and later tested positive in NSW.
New exposure sites believed linked to the truckie were listed at the Fresh Fields FoodWorks supermarket at Thabean in Bundaberg, the BP Caboolture South Travel Centre and Graham Lusty Trailers at Crestmead
Ms Palaszczuk said the other new Queensland case was a Melbourne woman in her 30s who tested positive while in home quarantine, but she was considered a low risk.
She also ramped up the government’s vaccination push, saying one case could cause a ‘massive outbreak.
The new Gold Coast case comes after unvaccinated Glitter Strip rideshare driver Duran Raman tested positive last week after visiting Covid-ravaged Melbourne.
He remains in Gold Coast University Hospital as police continue to investigate if he re-entered Queensland illegally.
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