Covid Sunshine Coast: Queensland records nine new local cases, urgent plea to get tested

Chief health officer Jeannette Young has pleaded with Sunshine Coast residents to get tested for Covid-19, believing there are infectious cases in the region “we don’t know about”.

Sunshine Coast residents are being urged to get tested for Covid-19 after Queensland recorded nine new cases of the virus.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said it was the highest number of local cases recorded on one day in the state for almost a year.

“This is the most number of new community infections we’ve reported in Queensland in almost 12 months,” he said.

All of the nine cases are linked to the Indooroopilly state school cluster in Brisbane which sent 11 LGAs in southeast Queensland into a snap three-day lockdown from 4pm Saturday.

The new cases are all the highly-infectious Delta strain, which chief health officer Jeannette Young said can transmit within seconds.

It is known that the 17-year-old student and her tutor, a medical student, both have the exact same strain of the virus as two Australians returning overseas, from separate locations via Singapore, and into Brisbane.

The two international arrivals, one from Indonesia and the other from the UK, transited via Singapore before landing in Brisbane on June 29.

Both ultimately tested positive for Covid-19 and were taken to separate hospitals.

Dr Young signaled that one of the men were treated at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital and discharged on July 17.

But how Covid-19 jumped from those travellers into the community remains unknown.

There are currently five active cases of Covid-19 on the Sunshine Coast.

Dr Young said the cases numbers were “rapidly escalating”.

Sunday 1 August – coronavirus cases in Queensland:

9 new locally acquired cases.
0 new overseas acquired cases.#covid19pic.twitter.com/xe5atdGVr2

— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) August 1, 2021

“We’ve picked up the escalation point but I still think there are more cases on the Sunshine Coast that we do not know about,” she said.

“It’s vital anyone with any symptoms at all please come forward for testing … I don’t know where this virus is.

“We all need to work together for the next three days if we are to be able to lift this stay at home requirement.”

“If we don’t find them, they will continue to spread.”

Mr Miles said it was vital more Queenslanders came forward to get tested after 11,468 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours.

“That is not enough tests,” he said.

He said in previous outbreaks that weren’t as serious as this one, more than twice the number of tests were being conducted.

“It’s particularly important on the Sunshine Coast, where the chief health officer is concerned there may be missing links to clusters,” he said.

Drive-through Covid testing site at Caloundra. Picture: Lachie Millard

Mr Miles said thousands of Queenslanders were subject to home quarantine directions.

Dr Young clarified that if you were in quarantine you cannot leave your home unless it is to get tested.

“If you’re asked to be in quarantine, that means you cannot leave your home except to go and get a test,” she said.

“Other than that there are very, very limited you can leave your home because you are very, very high risk.”

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said it was vital we increased testing numbers to beat the spread of the virus.

She said Queensland Health would monitor testing sites today and if necessary, would stand up more clinics.

“If you have any symptoms whatsoever, you must come forward and you must get tested,” she said.

Queensland currently has 53 active cases of Covid-19.