Queensland records no new local cases as Health Minister hints at border reopening date

The Health Minister says “time was up” for people to get vaccinated after the Premier revealed Queensland had gone another day with zero local cases. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath says Queenslanders have five to six weeks to get vaccinated to protect themselves from the incoming surge in Delta cases.

In a hint to when Queensland’s borders could reopen, Ms D’Ath said Queenslanders should make it their mission to get vaccinated within the next six weeks.

Asked whether to encourage people to get vaccinated if the State Government would provide a “target” such as easing restrictions or opening borders, Ms D’Ath replied: “If someone wants a target, the target is getting yourself protected in the next five to six weeks.

“That needs to be your mission.

“This virus will go into every single community once Queensland opens up, once Australia opens up.

“The question is who is going to get this virus? The answer is whoever is not vaccinated.”

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath. Picture Annette Dew

Asked at a separate press conference when Queenslanders would have certainty about a roadmap to living with Covid, and a date for when the border would reopen to all of Australia, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk repeated that wouldn’t happen until after everyone had had a chance to be vaccinated.

But she wouldn’t explain how that would be measured, saying only: “We’ll talk about that later.”

“We want to ensure that every eligible Queenslander has the opportunity to get the vaccine,” she said.

“It is so important for people to get vaccinated.

“The sooner people get vaccinated, the better that life will be.”

Ms Palaszczuk also left questions around how the state’s double vaccination status will be measured, with concerns some regional areas are tracking far below more protected parts of the southeast.

“We are working out when we will get to 80 per cent double vaccination,” she said.

“But like I said, I want that evenly spread across the state.

“We have got regional centres where the vaccination rates are somewhat lower because we have got some individuals out there not supporting vaccination.

“Now we are absolutely determined to drive up those vaccination rates.”

Meanwhile, Ms D’Ath says a Covid positive passenger who flew from Sydney to the Brisbane Airport posed “no risk to the community”.

The positive NSW case arrived on flight VA917 into Brisbane Airport on Friday.

They didn’t have the right border pass so police managed them and they went into hotel quarantine at the Novotel overnight before being sent back the next morning.

“The airport itself is an exposure site around that gate,” Ms D’Ath said.

She said people on that flight were also close contacts.

Ms D’Ath confirmed 274 people had been approved to come into Queensland this week to undertake home quarantine as part of the latest trial.

A total of 2000 people were invited to be part of the home quarantine trial.

Earlier, the Premier said 69 per cent of Queenslanders have had their first dose of the Covid vaccine, while 52.25 per cent were fully vaccinated.

“Today were going to hit 70 per cent, which is great news” she said.

Across the weekend, which was dubbed Super Pfizer Weekend, 47,221 vaccines were administered.

There were 6,825 Covid tests in Queensland in the past 24 hours with 33 current active cases across the state.

Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said people coming into Queensland who did not have the right border pass would be picked up, like the latest case from NSW.

Mr Gollschewski said people heading into home quarantine were “constrained” by getting flights from hotspots into Brisbane.

He said the only way Queenslanders stuck across the border could get into the state faster was if they had an exemption.

He said authorities were “trying to clear the backlog” of border applications.

Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said she wanted mandatory vaccinations in vulnerable settings.

“Where we’ve got very vulnerable people in Queensland that’s where we’ve mandated vaccinations,” she said.

“Outside of those settings people can make choices about the vaccine.”

Dr Young said she wanted to see 95 per cent of Queenslanders vaccinated to ease the strain on hospitals once the state’s borders opened.

Dr Young said she wanted the same rate of vaccination among adults as is the case among the state’s children.

“It’s nothing to do with borders or restrictions, it’s purely where I want people to aim,” she said.