EXPLAINED: What you need to know about Qld’s new Covid rules

Queensland’s coronavirus restrictions are set to ease on Friday, but it will mean more businesses will have to use the government’s Covid check-in app. See what the new rules mean for you.

Buffets will be back, patronage numbers in restaurants boosted by 50 per cent and gathering caps in homes scrapped under eased coronavirus restrictions to kick off this week.

But the number of venues that will have to use the state government’s Covid check-in app will be significantly widened to include businesses such as shopping centres, supermarkets, hairdressers and theme parks.

The eased restrictions and new check-in requirements will begin from 1am Friday – ahead of the looming school holidays – with businesses given a two week grace period before enforcement measures ramp up.

The relaxed restrictions will mean businesses will be able to cater to three people for every 4 sqm – a 50 per cent increase in capacity from the current one person per 2 sqm rule.

This will apply to all indoor businesses, such as restaurants, cafes, pubs and live music venues – as well as tourism offerings, like hostels, and charter boat experiences on the Greater Barrier Reef.

The current cap of 100 people for gatherings at private residences will be removed entirely, while remaining restrictions at aged care, disability service and hospital facilities will be lifted.

In another win for the hospitality industry, self-service food – such as buffets and smorgasbords – will be back in a move that the government says will free up staff.

Buffets had been allowed under the current restrictions, but only if staff served the food onto customers’ plates.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Queenslanders will have to check-in at many more places under the restrictions shake up, with the state government’s app to now be a requirement across a much wider variety of businesses and venues in the community.

This will include food courts, hairdressers, casinos, caravan parks, theme parks and open houses.

For example, someone entering a shopping centre will have to check-in with the app upon arrival at the centre, and will then have to check-in at stores they enter during their visit.

Ms Palaszczuk insisted the check-in requirements were “not too much to ask” in exchange for “more freedom”.

“We want life to go back to as normal as possible and I think this is a very small requirement,” she said.

“We want to make sure that we capture every detail because then it’s so much easier for our contact tracers.

“Basically, anywhere where you go in, you need to just check-in.”

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said she expected the new check-in arrangements to stay in place until the “vast majority” of the population was vaccinated against the Covid strains that were circulating.

“A lot of places have voluntarily already put it in place,” Dr Young said.

“So really, we’re just catching up and now making it mandatory.

“People have been really, really good at using the app – we’ve seen that, so I’m very, very confident.

“And I’m exceptionally confident about business. Within the days of the last requirement to have the app in place, 98 per cent of businesses had already put it in place.”

Infectious disease physician Associate Professor Paul Griffin said the move to widen the use of the check-in app “makes perfect sense” if the technology worked as intended.

“Our contact tracers do a fantastic job but still having to rely on things like lockdowns at this point is a little bit disappointing,” he said.

“And the more we use that sort of technology and it makes the work of the contact tracers easier the less likely we are of having them overwhelmed and needing to progress to more rigorous interventions.

“I strongly support us having to sign in basically everywhere.”

Under the current requirements, the app is already mandatory for retail food services, pubs, licenced clubs, function centres, wineries, distilleries, nightclubs and licenced premises in hotels.

Anyone who does not own a phone – or a device that is capable of scanning a QR code – can let the business record the details for them.

Jason Hirt, general manager of the Prince Consort Hotel in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, said people were flocking to entertainment venues and it was great to see restrictions easing.

“Consumer confidence is back and people are feeling safe to come back out and have fun, which we are obviously loving,” he said.

“Business is booming.”

Mr Hirt said that government bodies such as licensing and Queensland health becoming more lenient with venues has also been great for business.

“Letting these things work for us, so that we can start to make money and operate at normal capacity and like normal times, almost, has been really amazing,” he said.

The manager of the popular Brisbane venue said he looked forward to live music touring ramping back up.

“We will start to see all these great bands and DJs and acts and that’s going to be the next exciting part, for everyone involved,” he said.

“It’s there now, but it’s not on that level where it used to be.”

Mr Hirt said that the venue was hosting the Fire and Ice festival again this year, despite possibilities that interstate bands they have booked may not make it.

“That’s the risk you have to take, and we’re willing to take it,” he said.

QUEENSLAND’S NEW RESTRICTIONS

– Indoor venues can now cater to three people for every 4 sqm. This is up from one person for every 2 sqm. This will include venues such as restaurants, cafes and pubs – as well as hostels and tourism offers, like charter boats.

– The current gathering cap of 100 people at a private residence has been scrapped. There will now be no limit.

– Self-service food offerings, such as buffets, will be allowed to return.

– All restrictions at aged care, disability service and hospital facilities will be lifted.

– New venues that will be required to use the Covid check-in app include food courts, shopping centres, hairdressers, theme parks, casinos, caravan parks and open houses.