Queensland records two new local Covid cases overnight

Queensland has recorded four new Covid cases, including two locally acquired – both children of a confirmed case – with the CHO warning it was too early to say whether the state has avoided another lockdown.

Queensland has recorded two new local Covid cases and two overseas-acquired cases detected in hotel quarantine.

The two new cases are children of the man announced as a confirmed Covid case on Friday who had been on the Gold Coast for four days.

Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said it was still too early to say whether Queensland had avoided a lockdown despite no unlinked community transmission.

“I desperately hope we have,” she said.

“I think the response from Queenslanders is absolutely amazing.

“Here we have seen six people (aviation cluster) get infected at a workplace and they’re all vaccinated and they’ve passed it onto their household members.”

Dr Young said large crowds at the NRL grand final did concern her but masks were helping and were critical.

She urged anyone with the slightest of symptoms to stay home.

Queensland Chief Health Officer and Health Minister providing a COVID-19 update. #covid19https://t.co/H1EOdC23A4

— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) October 1, 2021

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Friday said the borders would reopen when it was “safe”.

Asked what a safe level was, Dr Young said when as many people as possible were vaccinated.

“At a minimum I need them to have been given the opportunity to be vaccinated,” she said.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said Saturday’s new cases were detected while in home quarantine, but authorities were still looking at whether they had spent any time in the community.

Meanwhile, the state government is still refusing to say if the border will open when 80 per cent of the population is vaccinated.

Ms D’Ath insisted the 80 per cent vaccination rate was just one element of the Doherty modelling, and that national cabinet was still doing more work around it.

“I have said continuously around the 80 per cent threshold that the Doherty Institute modelling is not just about percentage,” Ms D’Ath said.

“It’s also … the number of outbreaks you’ve got.”

Ms D’Ath said if Queensland wants to be open for Christmas, people needed to get vaccinated.

“If you want to go see family and friends around the country, the best thing you can do … is getting vaccinated.”

Ms D’Ath said Queensland would wait to see how the “trial” with international travel went and that the state wasn’t closed off to the idea.

She said didn’t think people would want to be flying to Bali at the moment citing the number of cases the country is recording.

“I’m not sure how many people are going to be jumping on planes to Bali,” she said.

Dr Young said the two new cases were children of the man announced on Friday who had been on the Gold Coast for four days.

“We’re double checking there weren’t any other venues they attended,” she said.

“But now every single day that we don’t have community transmission is another day that more than 50,000 Queenslanders have the opportunity to get vaccinated.

“We have plenty of vaccine.”

It comes as the truck driver who was reported on Friday as being an animal handler on the Gold Coast was a negative positive.

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath and chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young. Picture: Dan Peled

Ms D’Ath said that case was no longer a concern which was great news.

There were more than 21,100 Covid tests on Friday and 22,395 vaccinations were administered.

Ms D’Ath said the Richmond Valley Local Government Area would be declared a hot spot after the NSW Government put Casino into lockdown.

All Queensland Health community vaccination hubs will be open their normal hours on the Monday public holiday.

Asked about the NRL Grand Final on Sunday, Ms D’Ath said a day was a “long time in Covid” but things were looking very positive.

It comes after a new Covid case on the Gold Coast – linked to the Brisbane aviation cluster.

The Covid-positive man spent four days in the community while infectious.

There are also fears of a new case in Hamilton, but Queensland Health could not confirm overnight whether it was new or one already linked to the area.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Friday declared that she would not hesitate to call a lockdown.

“This is serious … we will go hard, we will go fast if necessary,” she said. “The fundamental reason we’re not in lockdown is because we don’t have any seeding or unlinked community transmission.”

Meanwhile, long queues have formed at vaccine testing centres on the southern Gold Coast after the area was identified as the state’s latest Covid-19 hotspot.

A raft of exposure sites linked to the Brisbane aviation cluster have been named by Queensland Health on the Gold Coast, most in the city’s south.

They include a Kirra holiday resort, two surf clubs, shops, service stations and cafes.

Traffic has been banked up more than a kilometre at the Galleon Way testing centre at Currumbin Waters as anxious locals and visitors rush to get tested.