Three new cases of community transmission as restrictions return to Queensland

Another woman has tested positive to Covid-19, this time linked to the NT mine worker who caught the virus in Brisbane quarantine, after three new cases, including two cases of community transmission, were detected earlier.

Another woman has tested positive to Covid-19, this time linked to the NT mine worker who caught the virus in Brisbane quarantine.

The woman, a miner, who tested positive on the Sunshine Coast, arrived into Brisbane on Friday and drove home.

It’s understood she was infectious in the community for one day and had visited two venues, which will be added to Queensland’s exposure sites.

She works at the Newmont-owned Granites gold mine, 540 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs.

Contact tracing is under way.

Masks are now mandatory at tonight’s State of Origin game at Suncorp Stadium, as authorities try to get on top of the growing number of cases.

Queensland earlier recorded three new cases of Covid-19, including two cases of community transmission, with some restrictions put back in place after they were lifted on Friday.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the two new local cases were a woman who worked at the DFO at Brisbane Airport and her partner.

They have not contracted the Delta variant, which is responsible for the outbreak that has sent Sydney into a two-week lockdown. Sydney today recorded 30 new local cases, taking the Bondi cluster to 110 cases.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk provides a Covid-19 update on Sunday morning. Picture:

The woman has been to many venues in Queensland, including gyms and shopping centres. Queensland Health will release a full list of exposure sites today.

Ms Palaszczuk said from 6am Monday, some additional restrictions would be in place to protect Queenslanders from the highly contagious Delta variant.

Pubs, clubs and cafés will revert to the one person per two square metres rule, while private gatherings at homes will be limited to no more than 100 people, including children and infants.

The restrictions will last as long as the Sydney lockdown is in place.

On Sunday afternoon, South Australia announced it would out all visitors from Queensland, as well as the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said woman who worked at the DFO is not believed to have contracted the virus while at work.

The worker’s partner, who works on the Sunshine Coast, has also tested positive.

The woman is believed to also work at the Brisbane watchhouse, with police working to figure out when she was there and whether she was infectious at the time.

Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young has provided a Covid-19 update on Sunday morning. Picture: Dan Peled

A high-level source described the case as “very concerning”.

“One of them (the new cases) is a DFO worker and was at work on that Saturday, the 19th of June, but we do not believe they contracted it while at work there,” Dr Young said.

“We know that they are known to friends of some of the people who attended that Portuguese restaurant. We suspect that’s where the linkage has happened.

“They themselves did not attend that function at that restaurant. We suspect it will be the Alpha variant.”

Dr Young said woman had not had any symptoms at all, and came forward to get tested after the Covid positive case at the shopping centre.

“We are going to deem (the woman) as infectious in the community from the 20th of June, and they have been to a lot of sites in the community which we will put up on our website.”

Dr Young said the DFO worker’s partner, who lives in the same household, also tested positive with the virus.

The partner did develop symptoms on June 23.

Ms Palaszczuk said there were 40 active cases in Queensland.

Ms Palaszczuk said no one should travel to NSW during school holidays, and anyone currently in the state should rethink their plans.

“We haven’t seen the likes of this before, because this is the highly contagious strain,” she said.

“Reconsider any travel to NSW, especially in this lockdown period.”

She said people already in NSW should immediately return.

It comes after a crew member of a Virgin Australia flight from Sydney into Brisbane and the Gold Coast tested positive.

Dr Young said the Virgin cabin crew member was on five flights while infectious on Friday and Saturday.

The crew member came into Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Everyone on those flights will be contacted to quarantine for 14 days.

“Fortunately the flights were fairly empty because of the restrictions in Sydney,” Dr Young said.

Dr Young said there was another case which was alerted to Queensland Health by the Northern Territory.

The positive case was a fly-in fly-out worker who works in the mines around 350km from Alice Springs.

He flew in from Victoria to Brisbane and stayed for nine hours and then flew to the Northern Territory.

“He was on the floor 5 of the Novotel Hotel at the Brisbane Airport where we had that other transmission event. Because he was on that floor he was asked to get tested which came back positive.

“I’ve asked, and it’s happening as we speak, that every person on floor 5 of that hotel has now been moved to different floors.”

The miner’s close contacts have been told to get tested and quarantine for two weeks.

Meanwhile, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian buckled on Saturday and plunged 5.5 million Greater Sydney and surrounding residents into a two-week lockdown in a last-ditch effort to contain the region’s Covid-19 outbreak.