Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announces one new case in hotel quarantine for Queensland
Queenslanders will find out tomorrow if travellers from Greater Sydney can enter the state once more.
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QUEENSLANDERS will find out tomorrow if travellers from Greater Sydney can enter the Sunshine State once more.
It comes as Queensland health officials gear up for the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine and after just one new case of coronavirus was recorded here in the past 24 hours.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirmed a decision on the ongoing border closure to Sydney would be made on Thursday.
“I will be taking advice from (Chief Health Officer) Dr (Jeannette) Young and the Health Minister and we will be carefully looking at those issues,” she said.
Dr Young said once the Commonwealth Government had secured supplies of the COVID vaccine, health officials would be able to “roll them out immediately”.
“Our first six hubs will be in our major cities that are at the highest risk of having any cases,” she said.
“Then as we get those newer vaccines that can be distributed more easily because they don’t need to be managed in those very, very low temperatures ... we will be able to spread that vaccine out throughout the state.”
She said the timeframe for rolling out the vaccine would depend on when the Commonwealth secures the vaccine supplies.
“We know from the Commonwealth that they expect to get the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine towards the end of February,” Dr Young said.
“So we hope to be able to start vaccination then.
“And as we get those other doses of additional vaccines, as soon as we get them, we’ve got the systems in place to rapidly get them out.”
Dr Young said hotel quarantine workers and health staff would be among the first to get the vaccine in Queensland, followed by the vulnerable - such as those in aged care.
“Then gradually all adults will be offered that vaccine,” she said.
“At the end, when all adults have been vaccinated, depending what the evidence says about children and when the trials have been done, we will then look at children.”
There are currently 12 active COVID cases in Queensland.
Ms Palaszczuk is in Townsville today for the first Cabinet meeting of 2021.
This morning she was at Heatley Secondary College with Education Minister Grace Grace to welcome students to the first day of school.
A total of 4638 tests were conducted yesterday. Queensland now has 12 active cases.
It comes after COVID-19 viral fragments have been detected at seven Queensland wastewater plants in the latest sewage analysis.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said evidence of COVID-19 was found in sewage collected at Caboolture South, Oxley Creek, Bundamba, Gibson Island at South Brisbane, Luggage Point in North Brisbane, Maryborough and at Pulgul in Hervey Bay.
Meanwhile, NSW has now recorded 10 days in a row with no community transmission.
No new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 were detected in NSW in the 24 hours to 8pm Tuesday as the daily numbers of tests processed rose slightly to 9,723.