Covid-19 Qld: Mask up or face lockdown like other states

Southeast Queenslanders are being asked to mask up for another week in a bid to avoid another lockdown, as southern states are ravaged by coronavirus.

Southeast Queenslanders are being asked to mask up for another week in a bid to avoid another lockdown as the state grapples with a fresh outbreak of community-acquired Covid-19 cases.

Health officials were yesterday waiting for genomic sequencing results to work out how the latest cases acquired the virus, and for tests to reveal what variants they have, as plans to relax restrictions from today were abandoned.

Among the three new cases was a “fully vaccinated” airport worker, as well as a 12-year-old boy who had recently returned to Australia from the US.

It is understood the boy’s mother had been in the US for medical treatment she could not receive here.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced mandatory mask wearing would continue for another week in 11 council areas – such as Brisbane, Ipswich, the Gold Coast and Logan – to avoid another lockdown.

Other rules, such as a 30 person limit on private gatherings at homes and visitor restrictions to hospitals and aged care facilities, will also remain in place until 6am Friday, next week.

“We’ve just got to get on top of these things quickly,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“So I’m asking Queenslanders for their patience and understanding because we’ve got to get this right.”

Masked pedestrians in the Brisbane CBD yesterday. Picture: David Clark

Meanwhile Queensland has again come to the rescue of the AFL season with seven teams evacuated from Covid-hit Melbourne.

Essendon, North Melbourne, Richmond, the Western Bulldogs, Brisbane, Sydney and the Giants all caught charter flights from Melbourne to Queensland.

The league made a snap call to move Richmond’s Friday night home game against Brisbane from the MCG to the Gold Coast to avoid the Lions being trapped in a Melbourne lockdown.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said one of the latest cases was a 12-year-old boy who had travelled to the US for three months with his mother.

The pair returned to Australia on June 21 when they went into hotel quarantine in Sydney, before travelling back to Brisbane on Qantas flight 544 on July 9.

Dr Young said the boy was tested for the virus on July 13 after becoming unwell, with a positive result returned late Wednesday – with his father also testing positive, while his mother has tested negative.

“We hopefully will get genome sequencing back later today so we will be able to say where the boy acquired the infection,” she said.

“I need to now get all the information from NSW for all his test results (while in hotel quarantine) for day zero, five, 12 and if he had a day 16 test.

“But the most important will be the whole genome sequence.”

Dr Young’s NSW counterpart, Dr Kerry Chant, said she would investigate the potential hotel quarantine leak once Queensland provided more information.

Dr Young said the third locally acquired case announced on Thursday was a “fully vaccinated” worker at the Brisbane International Airport from Tarragindi.

“She became unwell on the evening of … Tuesday the 13th of July, so went and got tested first thing the next morning and has come back positive,” she said.

“We are deeming her infectious from late on the Sunday.”

Health officials were last night yet to say what variant the three new cases had acquired, as they yesterday awaited genomic sequencing results.

Dr Young said she suspected the new cases were unrelated to the outbreaks the state had been dealing with in recent weeks – which meant restriction would have to be maintained for another week.

“I know they’re difficult – I’m sure everyone is sick and tired of wearing masks,” she said.

“They’re uncomfortable, but they’re extremely important and if everyone continues doing it, coming forward and getting tested, then hopefully we won’t be required to go into a lockdown.”

Townsville, however, will be able to lift its restrictions from 6am today.

A number of retail stores and cafes were among the next exposure sites announced by Queensland Health on Thursday.

Brisbane Airport’s international terminal, where a fully vaccinated worker was found to be positive. Picture: Liam Kidston

There are now 50 active cases in Queensland, following more than 12,000 tests on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Dr Young urged Queenslanders to reconsider their need to travel to NSW, as well as Victoria – as the Garden State was yesterday plunged into a five day lockdown.

“I also strongly recommend, very strongly recommend, that people reconsider any need to go anywhere down to Victoria at this time,” the Chief Health Officer said.

“And if you’re already down there, I think you should look at your risks in terms of whether you need to stay there.

“Because if there were to be an uncontained outbreak, then of course we would be declaring hot spots and asking people to quarantine on return.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, facing questions about yet another lockdown in Victoria, said Covid-19 “writes the rules”.

“The thing about Covid-19 is, particularly with the new Delta strain, as I said many times, it writes the rules,” he said.

“And rules that you think might be appropriate one time, sometimes have to change. To make sure that we’re keeping pace and ensuring people are supported through the Covid pandemic.”

National Cabinet will on Friday discuss plans to make emergency Covid-19 payments easier to access and consider activating thousands of pharmacies to speed up the vaccine rollout.