Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk defends opening Queensland borders as Omicron cases surge

The Premier has defended reopening Queensland’s borders despite an explosion in Covid cases driven by the highly-contagious Omicron variant.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she has no regrets opening the borders when she did, because Omicron would have come into Queensland regardless.

It comes as the state recorded 6781 new Covid cases on Wednesday, with 32,000 cases now active across the state.

“It is eventually going to be throughout Australia,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“People wanted to see their family and friends and loved ones.

“Grandparents had not seen their children or grandchildren for years, sometimes since they had been born.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Josh Woning

Ms Palaszczuk said the plan was for Queenslanders to get vaccinated, which they were, and that vaccinations were working.

“If you are unvaccinated, now is the time to not delay and go and get vaccinated,” she said.

Chief health officer Dr John Gerrard supported Ms Palaszczuk’s stance, saying keeping the borders closed would not have stopped Omicron.

“This virus is extremely contagious,” he said. “This virus would be here whether we opened the borders or not.

“There is never a good time for a pandemic, but if you’re going to have it, having it in summer when schools are on vacation, so that’s as good as it’s going to get.

“The decision to open the borders, it was before my time, but I fully support it.”

Covid cases have surged since Queensland’s borders reopened. Picture: Dan Peled

Dr Gerrard said places that did not have the Omicron variant, such as Western Australia and China, “still have to work out what they’re going to do”.

“They’re still going to have to go through this somehow,” he said.

“We’re all going to have to go through this somehow wherever we are around the world.”