Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk provides update on Queensland’s COVID cases

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has revealed Queensland will ease more of its COVID-19 restrictions that were put into place after a doctor at the PA Hospital contracted the virus.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has confirmed she will further lift COVID restrictions across Brisbane as she provides an update on the state’s response to the pandemic.

All restrictions for hospitals and aged care facilities across southeast Queensland have been lifted after restrictions were put in place when a doctor at the Princess Alexandra Hospital tested positive to COVID on Friday last week.

It is believed the doctor contracted the virus from a person in quarantine at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, who also infected another guest.

More than 650 contacts of the Princess Alexandra Hospital doctor have since been tested, with 99 per cent of results coming back – all negative.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has confirmed aged care restrictions will be lifted. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Steve Holland

Ms Palaszczuk confirmed 159 people in the Torres Strait have now been vaccinated.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said contact tracers had got on top of the most recent situation very quickly.

“This has been the text book response,” she said.

“In eight days we have controlled an outbreak due to tremendous work by a whole range of people. It truly has been superb.”

Dr Young said quite a few people remained in quarantine. She said if any of them later tested positive, it would not be a problem because of how long they have been in quarantine.

“This is the process we’ll do going forward,” Dr Young said.

Queensland Chief Health officer Dr Jeannette Young. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Dr Young said she had been able to lift restrictions after putting contacts of the Princess Alexandra Hospital doctor into quarantine.

“I think it’s a wicked virus,” she said. “I think people have done everything that they possibly could.”

Ms Palaszczuk said there was no evidence of any failure by the Hotel Grand Chancellor, while the CCTV showed no breaches.

Dr Young said she didn’t know how the outbreak at the Hotel Grand Chancellor occurred.

She said the positive case at the hotel was at one end of the corridor and the transmitted positive case was at the other end of the corridor.

“I cannot see that there’s been any way of transmission.

The case transmission at the Grand Chancellor hotel remains a mystery. Photographer: Liam Kidston

“We know that the virus can come out of a room and go into a corridor,” Dr Young said.

“And then someone else opens a door and breathes it in.

“We’ll wait until everyone from that level leaves and then we’ll go and do a deep clean.”

Dr Young said Queenslanders should expect more outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but she said there was less chance of regions going into lockdown when COVID responses worked so well.

Queensland recorded no new COVID cases in the community in the past 24 hours.