QLD COVID lockdown: Full list of restrictions explained

Queensland’s snap lockdown will severely limit people’s movements with the number of valid reasons to leave the home slashed.

Queensland’s snap lockdown will severely limit people’s movements with the number of valid reasons to leave the home slashed.

From 6pm tonight until 6pm Friday night, southeast Queensland, Townsville, Palm Island and Magnetic Island will go into a three-day lockdown.

The 11 southeast Queensland council areas to be locked down are Noosa, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Logan, Redlands, Moreton, Scenic Rim, Somerset and Lockyer Valley.

VALID REASONS TO LEAVE YOUR HOME:

- essential work and study that cannot be done from home.

- to care for someone.

- to buy essential supplies, such as food and medication.

- to access essential healthcare and to be vaccinated.

- to exercise locally outdoors, with members of the same household or one person from outside the household.

You should stay in your local area wherever possible.

OTHER RESTRICTIONS IN EFFECT FROM 6PM:

- Funerals will be capped to 20 people.

- Weddings can only have 10 people, including the celebrant and the couple.

- Two visitors can still visit another person’s home.

- Restaurants and cafes will only be allowed to provide takeaway services during the lockdown.

- Non-essential businesses are not allowed to operate.

- Cinemas, entertainment and recreation venues, hairdressers, beauty and personal care services, gyms and places of worship will all close.

- Restrictions on aged care, hospitals, disability care and correctional facilities apply with no personal visitors allowed. Anyone attending these facilities in South East Queensland, Townsville or Palm Island, including staff, must wear a mask.

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young acknowledged the severity of the restrictions.

“It’s really limited. We need people to not move around,” she said.

“You should now finish your day wherever you are ... and go home.”

FACE MASKS

You must carry a face mask at all times when you leave home, unless you have a lawful reason not to.

You must wear a mask in indoor spaces, such as:

-shopping centres and supermarkets

-hospitals and aged care facilities, if permitted to visit

-indoor workplaces (where safe to wear a mask and you can’t physically distance)

-public transport, taxis and rideshare, and waiting places or queues for this transport

airports and travelling on planes.

Masks do not need to be worn in some circumstances, including children under 12 years, where people have certain medical conditions, and in workplaces where it is not safe to do so.

Masks may be removed when sitting down to eat and drink, undertaking strenuous exercise and for employment purposes.

OPEN/WHAT YOU CAN DO

- Childcare centres will remain open.

- Restaurants and cafes can provide take away or home delivery services only.

- People will still be able to visit their loved ones who are at end of life.

- You can return to your home outside of South East Queensland, Townsville or Palm Island, but you must follow the same lockdown rules when you return home, regardless of where your destination is.

-Those leaving South East Queensland, Townsville or Palm Island during this time may do so for essential reasons or to return home, but must also remain at their residence and limit their movements until the lockdown period has ended.

- If you live outside South East Queensland, Townsville or Palm Island, you can transit through those areas without stopping.

PENALTIES

Police will begin adopting a high visibility presence, with those busted flouting the mask mandate to be slapped with a $200 fine.

Those who breach the lockdown orders can be fined more than $1300.