Qld coronavirus: Premier to update state after PA COVID scare

A Brisbane quarantine hotel at the centre of a previous COVID-19 scare will stop taking visitors as Queensland records one new case.

The Hotel Grand Chancellor has been plunged into lockdown as health officials probe whether a new COVID case in a returned traveller was acquired within the hotel.

Queensland recorded a suspected historic case on Sunday that was not linked to the COVID-positive Princess Alexandra Hospital doctor, as officials test more than 200 of the doctor’s community contacts.

There were 61 staff and seven patients at the hospital who were identified as potential close contacts of the doctor who tested positive.

Three close contacts of the doctor have already returned a negative result, as partial genomic sequencing suggests there may be a link between the woman and a patient she assessed.

The Princess Alexandra Hospital at Woolloongabba. Picture: NCA NewsWire /Jono Searle

Health officials also announced today that they were reviewing whether a new COVID case in hotel quarantine that was announced on Saturday is linked to another case at the hotel.

The person was staying on the same floor at the Hotel Grand Chancellor of the other case – who incidentally is believed to have transmitted the virus to the PA Hospital doctor while they were being treated.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said it was not on the same floor, nor was the sequencing the same as the last Hotel Grand Chancellor cluster.

“What we know is case one is the person brought into the (PA) hospital on the 9th of March, case two was the doctor who got it off the person who came in on the 9th, and case three is a person in hotel quarantine on the same floor as case one,” Ms D’Ath said.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at a press conference on Sunday morning. Picture: John Gass

The hotel, which was at the centre of a cluster of cases in January, has been put into lockdown, with those due to leave the hotel in the coming days forced to wait.

It will also not be taking in any returned travellers over the next 72 hours.

Deputy Chief Health Officer Sonya Bennett said the latest case had tested positive on day 12 of their hotel stay after being symptomatic.

“What we want to rule out … that there’s been any transmission at all in hotel,” she said.

“Because it’s one of a number of possible options to explain the case identified yesterday (Saturday).

“It either could be that they had a very late incubation period, which we know is possible.

“It may be they have a similar source from overseas or it may be there’s a transmission in hotel quarantine.”

Deputy chief health officer Sonya Bennett talks to the media with Health Minister Yvette D’Ath. Picture: John Gass

Dr Bennett said the matter was only a “potential event” and stressed that it was not related to the January outbreak.

She pointed out that both COVID cases had travelled “through the same area on the way”.

Meanwhile, Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorsid seized on the doctor’s case to slam the Queensland Government, saying the state’s personal protective equipment was “clearly inadequate”.

Dr Khorsid said the Queensland doctor had “done all the right things” but still contracted COVID, which he said was “completely preventable” for frontline health and quarantine workers with proper equipment and the vaccine.

But Dr Khorsid was unavailable on Sunday to elaborate on his claims or provide specific examples of “inadequate” PPE in Queensland hospitals.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath refuted the claims, insisting Queensland complied with the national guidelines and standards for PPE.

“I think we have to be careful in making assumptions about what has happened in this individual case,” Ms D’Ath said.

“I’ve been advised that the doctor was wearing the appropriate PPE.”

Ms D’Ath said it was “not helpful to speculate or make accusations”.

“We will go through an investigation into how this transmission occurred,” she said.

It was earlier said Queensland faces a “critical” 36 hours as authorities investigate the potential spread of the UK strain of COVID-19 in Brisbane.

The doctor had treated COVID-19 patients Wednesday morning and presented for testing Friday after developing symptoms.

On Thursday the doctor visited West End’s Morning After Cafe between 2pm and 3.15pm before attending the Corporate Box Gym at Greenslopes between 5.45pm and 7pm. She later attended the Stones Corner Hotel on Logan Rd from 7pm to 7.45pm. Those venues were deemed a risk.

Authorities say anybody who visited those locations at the same time should immediately quarantine home.

The Queensland cases come as a quarantine hotel worker in Sydney tested positive for COVID-19, NSW’s first local case in 55 days.

Testing of close contacts is under way after the person, who works at two Sydney hotels which provide hotel quarantine for returned travellers.

NSW Health was notified late on Saturday night of the new case.