Coronavirus Qld: Crucial case update as search for answers on transmission of mutant UK strain continues

Health authorities are still trying to get in touch with a quarter of former Hotel Grand Chancellor guests who may have been exposed to the highly infectious UK COVID strain, but have ruled out another lockdown. Here’s why.

Health authorities are still trying to get in touch with a quarter of former Hotel Grand Chancellor guests, but have ruled out another lockdown because they’re confident they will find them.

It comes as Queensland recorded four new cases – all in hotel quarantine – as Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young could not say whether she was confident no one had left their rooms while staying at the hotel, instead saying police were looking at it.

The number of former hotel guests has been revised down from 250 to 147, with three-quarters having been tracked down.

None of the new cases are in the Hotel Grand Chancellor, which was the subject of a mass evacuation on Wednesday as a cluster of the highly infectious UK strain of COVID-19 grew to six.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said two of the new cases were from the US and two from South Africa who are in another quarantine hotel.

Dr Young said police were investigating if anyone at the Hotel Grand Chancellor left their room without permission but that she was “certain” the cleaner did not go into the room of the man infected with the UK covid variant.

Asked whether there could be another lockdown if the remaining people couldn’t be reached, Dr Young said no.

“We’ll find them,” she said.

“Some of these people have gone overseas.

“They’ve gone on their vessels and left the country ... so we just need to work through all of them and that’s happening.”

Dr Young said there were some facts which authorities did know, which were: a man and his partner arrived from the UK on December 30; That man left his room on January 3 to go to hospital; the hotel cleaner, who has contracted the highly-contagious UK strain, worked on January 2.

Guests in quarantine at Hotel Grand Chancellor getting transported in ambulances to The Westin in Brisbane City. Picture: Tara Croser.

“So there is no way that the cleaner has gone into that room after that gentlemen left,” Dr Young said.

“But the rest of the investigation still needs to be worked through by police but I am very, very certain that the cleaner was only there on the 2nd and the man was still in the room on the 2nd so the cleaner did not go into that room on the 2nd.”

Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said police were in the process of looking at CCTV footage.

He said the interviews were ongoing but could not say whether any infected guests had been interviewed yet.

“I don’t have a list of everyone that’s being interviewed but obviously that will include anyone that we think can give us information around what’s happened,” he said.

Mr Gollschewski said police would publicly release what results of the investigation they could once it had wrapped up.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said releasing the report was a matter for police, but she didn’t have an issue with it.

Ms Palaszczuk delivered the latest update as mystery remains behind a cluster of the highly infectious UK strain that has forced 600 people into quarantine.

The extreme action was taken on Wednesday after another two cases were added to the cluster of the mutant UK strain at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, taking the total to six, with health authorities admitting they have no idea how the virus was passed to them.

Combined with 250 guests who had stayed at the hotel since December 30, 226 workers and 129 guests who have been relocated to the Westin hotel, it means more than 600 people will be forced into quarantine.

Ms Palaszczuk said 226 staff at the Hotel Grand Chancellor have since been contacted and are being tested and isolated, with 129 guests removed yesterday and transported to another hotel.

Queensland Health is also in the process of contacting 147 former guests.

Dr Young said all 129 guests were treated “as if they had COVID-19” during the evacuation.

She said she was confident the close contacts of the cleaner and her partner had been found, while the Premier confirmed none of them have yet tested positive.

A guest arriving at The Westin from the Grand Chancellor. (Image/Josh Woning)

The AHPPC has fully endorsed Queensland’s actions in relation to the UK strain cluster.

Three quarters of the former guests have been tracked down and tested.

The Premier said the government was looking at all options for hotel quarantine into the future, including mining camps.

She said it was a rational option and something that deserved careful consideration, and that most of the facilities had balconies.

She said she was putting the option forward to the federal government.

“With this new strain, we have to put all options on the table,” she said.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said it was “a difficult choice” to require guests nearing the end of their quarantine stay at the Hotel Grand Chancellor to quarantine up to another 14 days.

Dr Young said she was confident the Gabba cricket Test between Australia and India, starting on Friday, would be safe.

The game will be held at 50 per cent capacity, with spectators expected to wear masks on entry and leaving the Gabba.

Dr Young said spectators would be seated in a chequerboard arrangement for safety.

“We’ve put in an additional mitigation in that we’re requiring everyone to wear masks until they sit down in their seat,” she said. “We haven’t had that before so that’s an additional layer of protection.”

Dr Young said she stood by her requirement for the cricketers to stay in hotel quarantine for the Gabba Test, after arriving from Greater Sydney.

“They have come from a hotspot so they need to go into quarantine,” she said.

“None of this is pleasant for a whole range of people, for a whole range of reasons, but we need to do it to keep people safe.”

Dr Young on Wednesday said they were looking at whether the highly-contagious UK strain may have spread through airconditioning as it was revealed a father and daughter returned from Lebanon who had stayed on the same floor as patient-zero had also tested positive, with the cases part of the same cluster.

Returned overseas travellers, who have already completed 14 days in quarantine at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, were on Wednesday evacuated to other hotels for another 14 days as authorities scramble to establish how the cases have been transmitted.

Ms Palaszczuk said the cluster of the highly infectious strain was of “national concern”.

The six cases include:

· A man in his thirties who arrived from the UK on December 30.

· His partner – a woman in her thirties who arrived from the UK on December 30.

· A hotel cleaner in her 20s.

· Her partner – a man in his 20s.

· A man in his 40s who arrived from Lebanon on January 1.

· His daughter – a woman in her 20s, who arrived on January 1.

In a late development in Wednesday, it was revealed international travellers returning to Queensland could be sent to quarantine in remote worker camps, under a plan being considered after the transmission of the highly contagious UK strain.

LATEST RESTRICTIONS AND HEALTH ALERTS

Until 1am, Friday January 22:

MASKS

Must be worn in indoor places, including shopping centres and supermarkets, gyms, workplaces where people cannot socially distance and where it is safe to do so, places of worship, libraries, public transport, taxis and ride share vehicles.

Must be carried at all times.

Are not required to be worn when outdoors at a safe distance from other people (for example, walking a dog), in private vehicles or doing

strenuous exercise.

BUSINESSES AND VENUES

Indoors: 1 person
per 4sq m

Outdoors:
1 person per 2sq m

Seated eating and drinking only

Smaller venues up to 200sq m: 1 person per 2sq m up to a maximum of 50

No dancing except

for weddings

GATHERINGS

Up to 20 in homes and public spaces

Weddings: Up to 100. No restrictions on dancing

Funerals: Up to 100

Indoor concert venues or theatres: 50% capacity, or 1 person per 4sq m – whichever is greater

Outdoor stadiums: 50% capacity with COVIDSafe plans

Restrictions on visits to hospitals, aged care, disability accommodation and prisons remain.

QUEENSLAND HEALTH ALERTS FOR TESTING:

SOUTHSIDE BRISBANE (RELATED TO CLEANER AND PARTNER)

Two sites were added to the contact tracing list after the quarantine hotel cleaner’s partner tested positive on Monday.

Anyone who visited Bunnings Warehouse in Acacia Ridge from 2pm to 2:40pm on Tuesday, January 5, and Sunnybank Cellars in Sunnybank Hills from 2:05pm to 2:15pm on Wednesday, January 6, has been urged to get tested and quarantine at home for 14 days regardless of the outcome.

An urgent public health alert was issued late on Saturday evening, ordering anyone who had visited Coles at Sunnybank Hills Shoppingtown on January 5, 7.30am-8am, or Woolworths Calamvale North on January 3, 11am-noon to get tested and quarantine for 14 days, regardless of the test result.

The Public Health Unit confirmed anyone who attended these venues at these times was now considered to be a close contact with a Brisbane quarantine hotel cleaner who tested positive to the UK variant.

The Nextra newsagency at Sunnybank Hills was also added to this list of “critical importance”.

Authorities have also asked anybody on the Altandi to Roma St Station train at 7am on January 2 and Central to Altandi train at 4pm on January 2 to get tested.

MALENY (RELATED TO PASSENGER FROM MELBOURNE)

Health alerts have been issued for three venues in Maleny after a woman flew from Melbourne to Brisbane and then drove to the Sunshine Coast hinterland town on January 5. The woman also had the UK mutant strain of COVID-19 and had been in quarantine in Melbourne for 10 days before being allowed to fly but has since tested positive for the virus. At the time 10 days was the required quarantine period and no exit test was required.

Dr Young said the risk was “extremely low” but said Queensland Health wanted to be cautious.

Queensland Health has urged anyone who visited the Cappriccios Italian Pizza Restaurant on January 6, between 6.30pm and 7pm, to get tested.

They have also issued the same advice for those who visited Purple Palate Cellars between 4.15pm and 4.25pm on January 7 as well as the Maleny Woolworths supermarket on the same day between 4.30pm and 4.50pm.

Anyone in the Maleny area with any symptoms has also been urged to come forward for testing.

Dr Young said health authorities wanted to test passengers on Jetstar flight JQ570 but she said Queensland Health had already contacted all passengers.