Qld Covid-19: Four new local cases, Cairns lockdown to end as planned

Queensland has recorded four new cases of Covid-19, all linked to the Indooroopilly Delta cluster and all found in home quarantine. In the state’s north, Cairns residents will come out of lockdown at 4pm as planned.

Queensland has recorded four new cases of Covid-19, all of them linked to the Indooroopilly schools cluster and all detected in home quarantine.

With no risk to the community, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk described it as an excellent result.

Announcing the lifting of the Cairns lockdown at 4pm today, Ms Palaszczuk thanked local residents for “doing the right thing”.

But she said Cairns and Yarrabah were not out of the woods, and that residents would continue to face the same restrictions as those in southeast Queensland in a bid to limit any community transmission.

The Indooroopilly cluster has now grown to 120 cases, with 156 active cases across the state.

Of the four new cases, one is a person in their 40s who is a household contact of Brisbane Boys’ Grammar and tested positive on Day 9 of quarantine, another is a student at Brisbane Boys’ Grammar who tested positive on Day 10 with two other members of the family already confirmed positive, the third is a student from Ironside who tested positive on Day 8 and the fourth is a student at Brisbane Girls’ Grammar who tested positive on Day 9.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk speaks to the media at a press conference at the Convention and Exhibition Centre where the new mass vaccination hub has opened. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Three cases were added to that cluster on Tuesday, two of them students - from Brisbane Grammar School and Ironside State School - and a third was an adult.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the latest case numbers were excellent news and that the cluster was expected to keep growing.

Thousands of families caught up in that outbreak will today and tomorrow get their final mandatory Covid tests before finishing home quarantine.

Dr Young said she did not know where the virus might next emerge.

“So please keep coming forward, any symptoms at all,” she said.

Her comments come as a mass vaccination centre opened in the heart of Brisbane.

More than 60,000 vaccination appointments were handed out in the first 48 hours bookings were open, with more than 200,000 still on a waiting list.

Dr Young said she now wanted children aged 12 to 15 to get vaccinated if they have significant underlying conditions.

“Well children, not at this stage,” she said.

Dr Young said anyone 16 years or older can register to get vaccinated.

“They just need to go and register and we’ll give them bookings ... we are going to try of course to pull in the higher priority people ... but I will never ever leave a booking spot vacant,” she said.

She pleaded for any unvaccinated aged care workers to come forward and get the jab, saying she had already issued a public health order around the matter.

As a mask mandate continues for at least another 10 days, Dr Young urged everyone to make sure they have one, “for when we get our next outbreak, because it will happen”.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said authorities weren’t expecting businesses to police people not wearing masks, but she said everyone needed to use common sense.

“We do ask for people to do the right thing,” she said.

There are currently 59 people being treated in hospital for Covid-19, while 92 are being managed at home.

Ms Palaszczuk said the new mass vaccination centre was able to open because there were extra Pfizer doses.

She said the government would look at all options going forward, including drive-through centres.

Asked what restrictions would remain once the 70 per cent vaccination target is reached, the Premier said short, sharp lockdowns were working.

“We need to see the vaccination rates come right up,” she said.

“We know that lockdowns do have an impact.

“You can not let this Delta strain run.”

She said authorities were working through what restrictions would still need to be in place when the 70 per cent rate was reached.

Police have increased road operations, with 108 vehicles turned around at the border yesterday.

There were 10 on-the-spot fines by police on Tuesday, but no arrests.

To the south, the focus is on northern NSW, where a number of areas are in lockdown after a Sydney man with Covid-19 travelled to Byron Bay and surrounding areas.