Qld Covid-19: No cases of community transfer

Treasurer Cameron Dick has taken a swipe at NSW’s Covid-19 quarantine ‘curveball’, saying even the PM was kept in the dark. It comes as Queensland recorded three new cases, all in hotel quarantine.

Queensland has again recorded zero new local cases of Covid-19 overnight.

There have been three cases acquired overseas and picked up in hotel quarantine. Two were in people who had travelled from Los Angeles.

The update was provided by Treasurer Cameron Dick, at his local Bunnings at Underwood.

It starts as Covid-19 jabs become available at a number of Bunnings stores across the state.

With more than 55 per cent of Queenslanders now fully vaccinated, Treasurer Cameron Dick said the state needed to continue accelerating the vaccine rollout, urging people to visit one of the 33 Bunnings today where jabs are being offered.

Mr Dick said Queenslanders were “heading in the right direction” with the state also hitting 71.73 per cent first dose vaccinated.

“Grab a vax, grab a snag,” he said.

“We know with Covid running rife that it is only a matter of time … that the delta variant will come to Queensland,” he said.

“We are in a race to beat Delta.”

Chief health officer Jeannette Young said while there were good testing numbers overnight, she urged anyone with any symptoms to come forward and get tested.

Queensland has declared 12 local government areas in Tasmania as hotspots.

This means that anyone who has been in those areas coming back after 1am tomorrow will need to undertake hotel quarantine.

Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick watches Chief Health officer Dr Jeannette Young during a media conference at a Bunnings in Logan. Picture: Dan Peled/Getty Images

Anyone who was in those areas from October 11 onwards needs to monitor their health.

Dr Young said there were no excuses to not get the jab this weekend.

“We’ve got a multiple of mass vaccination sites, there are pharmacies and there are GPs,” she said.

Dr Young said she wanted the state’s vaccination rates to be the highest ever.

Logan Mayor Darren Power said his community was dragging the chain.

“We’ve run out of excuses at Logan. People are going to get off their backsides and get vaccinated,” Mr Power said.

Mr Dick took a swipe at the NSW Government’s decision to scrap quarantine requirements for overseas arrivals, saying NSW residents would be able to travel to Bali before being able to visit Byron Bay.

Mr Dick called NSW’s quarantine-free overseas travel announcement a “curveball”, saying that even the Prime Minister was kept in the dark.

“We need to be clear and direct in our advice. That’s what we’ve done in Queensland every step of the way.”

Mr Dick said that his focus was keeping Queensland safe and he was looking carefully at what was happening in NSW and Victoria.

“We are looking to retain our freedoms, not regain our freedoms,” Mr Dick said.

Dr Young said NSW’s announcement didn’t change Queensland’s road map to opening the borders.

“We’ll watch and see what happens as a consequence of that. We’ll be able to see what’s happening in another state as they change their parameters,” she said.

“We won’t be able to open up and remove all restrictions until we have very high vaccination rates.”

She said she hoped that with pop up clinics, Queenslanders would reach 70 or 80 per cent quicker.

The home quarantine trial has almost reached its 1000-person cap, with 344 people arriving in Queensland as of Wednesday, with 998 booked in from next Thursday.

Dr Young said that the trial would then be immediately reviewed.