Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk reveals eight new cases - five locally acquired

Queensland’s Covid outbreak has worsened with eight cases recorded - five locally acquired - with two clusters of concern. But Brisbane’s lockdown will end tonight.

Queensland has recorded eight new coronavirus cases overnight - five locally acquired - but the lockdown of Brisbane and Moreton Bay will end at 6pm tonight.

Three cases were recorded in hotel quarantine, acquired overseas.

One of the new local cases is a known contact from the Portuguese cluster who tested positive on day 12 of quarantine.

Another is the Sunshine Coast case reported yesterday, with authorities confident the man is linked to the Portuguese restaurant.

He has the Alpha strain.

Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announces the lockdown will end. Picture, John Gass

The close contacts of this man’s case announced yesterday have so far tested negative.

A third case is a 29-year-old Brisbane man who has travelled to Eumundi on June 27 and visited a number of locations with everyone urged to check the list of exposure sites.

He is linked to the Carindale case of a mum and daughter.

He travelled to Eumundi, Sunshine Beach, Kenilworth and Doonan.

He and his partner also went to a restaurant at Sunshine Beach

“We have some slight concerns there about those areas,’’ Ms Palaszczuk said.

“If you have any symptoms whatsoever please come forward and get tested.”

Another is a woman in her 50s from Everton park who works at the Prince Charles Hospital - but not in the Covid ward. She worked one shift while infectious.

Then the fifth is a man in his 50s who works in Brisbane domestic airport as a baggage handler.

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said thousands of people were in quarantine but she preferred to put close contacts in quarantine rather than lockdown all of Brisbane.

She said there were two clusters she was most concerned about - the Alpha outbreak linked to the Portuguese cluster and the Brisbane Airport outbreak.

Dr Young said she will decide later today if Brisbane Airport will be declared a hotspot.

Ms Palaszczuk urged Queenslanders to remain vigilant.

“We’re all in this together,” she said.

“We are not out of the woods yet.

“We have to act as a community together.”

Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said there were two clusters of concern. Picture, John Gass

The Premier said people needed to wear masks because there could be more community transmission out there with a raft of restrictions to remain for Brisbane and Moreton Bay until July 16.

Residents must wear a mask at all times outside the home, including in workplaces, where it is safe to wear a mask and you cannot physically distance yourself, on public transport and when doing non-vigorous exercise.

Private gatherings are restricted to 30 people, and up to 100 people can attend weddings and funerals.

Only 20 people can dance at weddings.

Patrons must be seated to drink or eat in cafés and restaurants, and businesses and venues are allowed one person per 4 sqm inside and one person per 2 sqm outdoors, while smaller venues up to 200 sqm are allowed one person per 2 sqm with a maximum of 50 people.

“We’re going back to where we were after we’d done all of those lockdowns last year,” Dr Young said.

Ms Palaszczuk urged people over 70, if they are unvaccinated, to limit the amount of times they leave the house over the next 13 days.

But they can see close family.

There have been 25,000 tests for Covid-19 conducted in Queensland in the past 24 hours.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles urged Queenslanders to get tested if sick, wear masks, and check-in at businesses using QRs codes.

“For the first time in a long time, there could be cases in our community that we don’t know about,” he said.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said people needed to social distance and wear masks so that a lockdown wouldn’t need to be implemented again.

Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said police have handed out 452 masks this week.

Eleven fines have been handed out, including four to people who haven’t worn their masks.

Crowds will be allowed to attend the Sharks vs Broncos game at Suncorp Stadium tomorrow afternoon.

They will have to wear a mask and check-in with the QR code.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has lifted the lockdown. Picture: Tertius Pickard

The decision to lift the lockdown came as the 1.5 million Queenslanders praying it would end had to sweat it out until midday with Queensland’s press conference delayed.

The five community transmission cases prompted Ms Palaszczuk to delay her decision by more than an hour.

Ms Palaszczuk and Dr Young had planned to hold a press conference at 10.30am to advise if the lockdown would be lifted.

But it was delayed until noon.

It sparked fears - if history was any indicator - that a delay in a press conference often meant authorities were dealing with multiple new cases which often led to bad news.

Parts of the southeast woke this morning to an ongoing lockdown after a mother and daughter from Carindale tested positive to Covid-19.

The uncertainty increased when a Sunshine Coast man in his 50s tested positive last night with authorities unable to determine where he contracted it from.

It means Queensland is now battling seven separate fronts of Covid outbreaks and it’s not yet known whether the mother and daughter have the highly contagious Delta strain that’s sent much of the country into lockdown in recent weeks.

Brisbane and Moreton Bay residents were set to have lockdown restrictions eased at 6pm Saturday after Dr Young requested ‘24 more hours’ to chase down contacts of the mystery Covid cases of a Carindale mother and daughter.

Dr Young continued with the plan to lift the lockdown for the Sunshine Coast and Noosa after last night’s Sunshine Coast case was confirmed but described the situation as ‘fast-moving’.