Vaccine mandate, Covid check-in ends at many Queensland venues

Changes to vaccine and check-in mandates have come into effect, allowing unvaccinated Queenslanders to return to many venues including pubs, clubs and stadiums. It comes as 8700 new Covid cases are recorded.

Queensland’s vaccination and check-in mandates for many venues have officially been wound back, just in time for the Easter long weekend.

The changes were announced last week but took effect from 1am Thursday morning.

It is now no longer a requirement to check-in at a range of venues, including pubs and clubs, stadiums and theme parks, indoor and outdoor festivals and activities, as well as Queensland Government owned galleries, museums and libraries.

Weddings are now also free from the restrictions.

Vaccination requirements for these venues have also eased, meaning that the unvaccinated can now visit venues that were previously off limits.

Chief health officer Dr John Gerrard. Picture: Liam Kidston

The check-in app will continue to be used in vulnerable settings, as Queensland moves away from a recent peak of Covid transmission driven by the Omicron variant.

It comes as Queensland recorded 8754 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, with four deaths related to the virus.

A total of 590 people are in hospital, with 16 of them in intensive care.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said Queenslanders had checked in to pubs, clubs, restaurants and cafes over one billion times during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Our pubs, clubs, restaurants and cafes have done our state a great service, they’ve helped us to deliver one of the world’s best vaccination rates,” Mr Miles said during a media conference at the Breakfast Creek Hotel.

“They along with our health staff deserve some of the credit for our fantastic Covid health response.

“I’d like to thank them and all of their staff, I know it hasn’t always been easy, I know it will come as a great relief, I know a lot of people would have enjoyed pulling down those posters and putting them in the bin this morning.

“This is an important milestone in our Covid pandemic response.”

Mr Miles elaborated and said the exact number of Covid-19 safety app check-ins totalled an astounding 1,066,781,622.

“More than 6,130,000 people have installed the Queensland Government’s check in app on their phones,” he said.

“I think this is one of those things that when we talk to our grandkids about how we experienced the great pandemic of 2020.

“We’ll talk about how we had to check in with a QR code on our phones before we went to the pub.”

Acting Premier Steven Miles speaks to the media at the Breakfast Creek Hotel in Brisbane. Picture: NewsWire/Sarah Marshall

With the state now sitting on a fully vaccinated rate over 90 per cent, chief health officer John Gerrard said last week that the mandates had done their job in getting the population vaccinated.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said that the main incentive to get vaccinated moving forward would be protecting vulnerable communities.

“We owe it to every person who can’t get vaccinated for medical reasons … to get vaccinated to reduce the risk of spread,” she said.

Dr Gerrard said it was “very unlikely” that the mandates would need to be reintroduced, unless a more severe variant of the virus appears.