Queensland records 186 new Covid cases as masks now mandatory in cinemas, theatres and for restaurant staff

Queensland has recorded 186 new Covid cases, the most in a 24-hour period since the pandemic started, with the Premier announcing an extension of the mask mandate.

Queensland has recorded 186 new Covid cases, the largest single day in the whole pandemic, while the state’s mask mandate has been extended.

Starting from 5am Thursday, masks will be mandatory in cinemas and theatres, and for hospitality staff – who are going from table to table.

It comes as more than a quarter of a million people travel into Queensland from southern states since Monday.

Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said the virus was spreading rapidly through the state but there was no superspreader event responsible for the increase in cases.

“This is a substantial increase from yesterday and not surprising,” he said.

“Most of the patients I’ve seen with Omicron have had trivial symptoms.

“It appears the vaccines are working effectively,

“The more we learn, the more we are assured the vaccines are effective in limiting severe disease.

“We know vaccinated people can have very mild illness, they can be in the community and not know they have the virus.”

There are 447 active cases, with one in intensive care as a precaution and 79 confirmed cases of Omicron.

The person in ICU has a ‘multitude of medical problems’.

Chief health officer Dr John Gerrard. Picture: Josh Woning

He said of the current active cases in Queensland, 177 were under investigation while three were linked to interstate arrivals. None are linked to overseas arrivals.

A total of 127 people are in ‘at home care’ while 79 are in hospital.

Only one patient had symptoms relating to Covid, the rest were in hospital for logistical reasons including that they are elderly, have immunocompromised family or are tourists.

Dr Gerrard said Queensland Health was not picking up every case and acknowledged 186 cases was an underestimation.

“As time goes by we will wind back the public health response so we won’t investigate each to the nth degree,” he said.

“If we have hundreds of people infected but only a handful of hospitalisations that’s a good thing, but once those numbers rise to 10,000, 20,000, or 100,000 cases, it becomes a logistics problem.

“And we do expect to see thousands of cases in the community in the next few weeks and that’s what all of our planning has been preparing for,” he said.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the fact none of Queensland’s current Covid patients were in a serious condition proved vaccines were working.

Annastacia Palaszczuk explains the mask mandate extension. Picture: John Gass

“The vaccines appear to be working and they are protecting Queenslanders from getting seriously sick,” she said.

“Our projections are the numbers are going to escalate very quickly unless we do something like go back to wearing masks.”

There have been more than 34,000 tests in the past 24 hours and 89.94 per cent of Queenslanders have had one dose.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Brad Fleet

Ms Palaszczuk said everyone wants to come to Queensland, with 257,000 people having crossed the border from Victoria, NSW and the ACT since Monday.

She said that was “more than the population of Townsville”.

She said the extra measures provided by extending the mask mandate would “keep Queenslanders safe”.

Ms Palaszczuk said she wanted restaurants and businesses to remain open.

“We don’t want all of our cafes and restaurants going down,” she said.

She said Queensland was expected to hit the 90 per cent first dose vaccination target today, with 90 per cent set to be fully vaccinated by mid- January.

Ms Palaszczuk said after discussions with the NSW Premier, they had agreed to retain until at least next year the need for people to get a PCR test within 72 hours of travelling to Queensland.

Ms Palaszczuk said about 10 per cent of NSW testing was for people coming into Queensland.

She said Queensland may use rapid antigen testing from the new year for people entering the state.

The Premier said 23 vaccination hubs would remain open over the Christmas break.

She fired back at journalists when pressed on long waits for people trying to get into Queensland.

“It’s only 10 per cent, 10 per cent, with all due respect I think you are wrong,” she said.

The Premier wanted to send a message to journalists and people watching at home.

“Respectfully we want Queenslanders to have a safe Christmas and New Year, we need people to check-in, wear masks, and be cautious where you’re going,” she said.

“It’s a small thing to do but we need people to be wearing masks until the population can get the booster.”

She said she had driven past the South Bank testing centre over the past few days and described the queues as “moderate”.

Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski answered questions about why thousands of passengers were not being checked for border passes as they flooded through Queensland airports, saying he was “very satisfied” with the current processing of interstate travellers.

“I’m very satisfied but if the CHO said we are very concerned and we need to take a more thorough look at people entering through road borders and the airport, then we’ll do that,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner Gollschewski said there were already stringent measures and audits in place to look over border passes and people entering the state.

There were no arrests in Queensland related to compliance issues yesterday but there were 102 calls for assistance - 30 related to the behaviour of individuals and 72 related to businesses.

Police attended and there was no further action required.

He confirmed there were now eight police officers who were Covid positive cases, one higher than yesterday’s total.

A total of 111 Queensland police officers are in quarantine but about 40 of those could leave quarantine today pending a negative test result.