Southeast Qld resident COVID positive after travelling to Sydney’s northern beaches
The captain of a superyacht docked in Cairns says crew are now co-operating with authorities after a woman tested positive to coronavirus. It comes as Sydney’s Avalon cluster has spread to southeast Queensland.
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A southeast Queensland man who travelled to Sydney’s Northern Beaches has tested positive to COVID. It comes as NSW records nine new cases.
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SYDNEY CLUSTER SPREADS TO SOUTHEAST
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath has revealed there have been two new cases in Queensland, with one linked to Sydney’s Northern Beaches cluster.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said the southeast Queensland resident – a man aged in his 40s – had travelled to the Northern Beaches in Sydney before returning.
Ms D’Ath said the person got tested, returned a negative test, but returned a positive result when tested again.
She said that person was in home quarantine when he returned a positive result.
The other confirmed cases is a woman aged in her 20s who was a crew member of a superyacht in Cairns, who along with the rest of the crew is now in quarantine.
She said authorities were concerned about the superyacht case, especially since the crew were initially not co-operating with police.
However Thursday night the captain of Super Yacht Lady E said the crew were ready to “comply in full” with authorities.
Captain James Kennedy revealed the vessel’s crew had been in quarantine just before the trek to Cairns.
Mr Kennedy said he and the crew were fully co-operating with Australian authorities and “have followed all protocols before docking in Cairns and since arrival”.
“Our team has quarantined, undertaken all necessary COVID-19 tests and stands ready to provide whatever details the authorities deem necessary,” he said.
“We remain ready to comply in full.”
Mr Kennedy also provided a statement outlining a timeline of events leading up to and during arrival in Cairns.
Lady E had travelled from England to Male, Maldives before arriving in Cairns.
Before departing to Cairns, one crew member who flew from the UK to Male tested negative immediately before boarding the flight.
However, upon arrival in Male, a second test came back positive.
“At this stage, all crew members were tested with some testing positive,” the statement read.
“To adhere with legal requirements and the ship’s strict protocols, the entire crew was placed in onshore quarantine for 14 days except for a small number who remained on the yacht for safety reasons but were also required to quarantine for 14 days on the yacht.”
They were monitored carefully and none suffered ill effects or deterioration in health during this time.
After completing 14 days quarantine, all crew members were retested and issued negative results on December 5 before they departed to Cairns the next day.
Lady E did not make any stops from Maldives to Australia and travelled at sea for 14 days, effectively further quarantining the crew, the statement reads.
“According to Lady E protocol, all ship crew joining the yacht must undergo and receive a negative COVID-19 test prior to flying to meet the yacht and then are subsequently tested upon arriving at the yacht.”
Mr Kennedy said all test results by the crew have been provided to Queensland contact tracers.
The cost to charter the luxury vessel starts at $US595,000 (approximately $AU800,000) a week.
Lady E measures 74.5 metres and includes a fully equipped gym, a large heated pool and has a beauty salon, massage parlour and spa facilities on board.
Police started an investigation into the group of 14 guests and six crew members, who were alleged to have arrived in Cairns on December 21.
The 14 guests have been directed into 14 days hotel quarantine in Cairns and are undergoing mandatory COVID-19 testing, while the six crew members remain on board the vessel for marine safety and have been directed to self-isolate.
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young commended the man who contracted COVID from Northern Beaches for immediately quarantining.
“He’s followed all the requirements he’s been asked to do,” she said.
She said he had not been in contact with anyone in the community other than those who lived with him.
Dr Young said although the man was quarantining separately from those he lived with, they were still now in 14-day quarantine.
Dr Young said in Queensland there were 53 close contacts to the Northern Beaches cluster and urged them to remain in quarantine.
“I am concerned that we do have the virus in Queensland,” she said.
“We know there were a lot of people who have come back into Queensland from the Northern Beaches area and other parts of Sydney.”
COVID-19 Update: It’s now been 100 days since Queensland last recorded a case acquired in the community. #covid19au https://t.co/8USBcHrbYF
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) December 23, 2020
Dr Young said action had been taken to reduce wait times at southeast Queensland’s COVID testing clinics.
She said the mutant COVID strain detected in the United Kingdom had not been detected in hotel quarantine in Queensland.
Dr Young said the emergence of now two mutant strains had seen security and restrictions increased within Queensland’s hotel quarantine program.
Ms D’Ath said today marks 100 days since Queensland recorded a case of community transmission.
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said discussions were underway about the cricket test being held in Queensland but stressed a lot of work needed to be done.
“If they’ve been in a bubble in New South Wales and not come into contact with the general community in Sydney and if they remain in that bubble coming into Brisbane then I think it could be done but there’s a lot of work to be done before that decision is made,” she said.
Dr Young said players have remained in bubbles while playing in other states.
She said while discussions were happening now, things could “very well change”.
Hugging over the festive period is being restricted to close contacts only, with Dr Young saying it might not be the time to hug great grandparents.
“I would restrict that to your close known contacts, so your close relatives, the people who live in your household,” she said.
“I would not be doing that in broader groups outside.
“I just think that’s a risk that’s not necessary.
“If you’re having Christmas Day with your close family, then you’re having a lot of time with them so you would be deemed a close contact.”
She urged everyone to think carefully.
“Maybe it’s not the time to hug your great grandmother,” she said.
AUTHORITIES GET SERIOUS ABOUT VENUE CHECK-INS
Patrons have been reminded that if they don’t have a smartphone, someone who they are with is able to check them into a venue.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath warned businesses could be fined if they didn’t follow health directives.
It comes after businesses were earlier this week given 72 hours to move to electronic check-ins and scrap paper records.
“We’re being flexible and understanding that there will be venues from time to time that don’t have internet access or other accessibility issues, and … some patrons who don’t have a phone, they’re not travelling with anyone with a phone and the venue itself doesn’t have internet access,” Ms D’Ath said.
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said it was on the venue to have an electronic recording.
“The venue must have a way to electronically record everyone who comes into that venue and to store that information for a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of 56 days,” she said.
“That’s critical.”
NSW RECORDS NINE NEW CASES
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced nine new cases in NSW overnight.
She said seven of those cases are linked to the Avalon cluster.
A total of 60,000 people have come forward in the past 24 hours to be tested for the virus.
Ms Berejiklian said test results were, in most cases, being returned within a few hours.
She said the low number of cases was promising.
“Given the number of tests and the number of cases, it’s positive,” she said.
New South Wales Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant urged people to come forward for testing if they had even the most minor of symptoms.
“It is important that we’re not complacent today. Anecdotally we’ve had some feedback our clinic lines aren’t as long as they were before,” she said.
Members of the community who are elderly or vulnerable will be fast-tracked through the queue at testing clinics, and she urged other members to remain patient while waiting.
A case that is currently under review visited the sports bar at the Paragon Hotel on Wednesday, December 16, between 12.45pm and 3.30pm.
Authorities have urged anyone who was at the sports bar for over an hour between those times to come forward and get tested, then isolate for 14 days.
Anyone who was inside the Paragon Hotel but did not visit the sports bar also must get tested and isolate until their results return.
Transmission has spread outside of the Northern Beaches, after an office worker in the Sydney CBD tested positive overnight.
Anyone who works in the northern part of the Sydney CBD is urged to carefully monitor their health and if they have even the mildest of symptoms, they must get tested.
Asked about if she was concerned Christmas gatherings could increase COVID-19 transmission, Dr Chang said the mental wellbeing of Sydney residents had to be considered.
“We have to balance people’s mental health and social well being. We are urging people to limit their gatherings,” she said.
“Keep your group gatherings to as small as possible … realty select the people you need to be with and space out (your gatherings) later until January”
EXTRA POLICE SENT TO BORDER
Police reinforcements are being sent to the Gold Coast to try to ease lengthy delays at the border as a top cop revealed his officers are being abused at checkpoints by frustrated motorists.
Almost 40 extra police, and 30 SES volunteers, are being deployed to the border which was slammed shut to Greater Sydney residents this week following the COVID-19 outbreak on the northern beaches.
Motorists have endured delays of up to two hours on the checkpoints since the border barricades went up on Tuesday.
Gold Coast police Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler said police were being sent in from across the state to try to ease delays over the hectic Christmas period.
He said it was ‘disappointing’ that some officers are being abused for simply doing their job, especially with many having to sacrifice Christmas with their families to perform border duty.
“If you’re frustrated or having a bad hair day or are simply an unpleasant person, do not take it out on police,” he said.
Supt Wheeler said police were hoping to open up a fourth checkpoint on Miles St at Coolangatta to try to ease congestion.
He also warned motorists heading south not to miss the Exit 95 turn-off at Currumbin or they would end up on the NSW side of the border and face a ‘carpark’ traffic jam to return.
Supt Wheeler said urged patience and journey planning, saying there had been peak hour delays of 90 minutes at the M1 checkpoint on Wednesday.
He said 159 vehicles containing 347 people from suspected Sydney hot spots had been turned around since the border closed.
ADF SAY NO TO BORDER CHECKPOINTS
Queensland have been turned back on a request for ADF help on the Queensland border with police to juggle the influx on their own.
Reports say the federal government turned down the request due to a focus on hotel quarantine and planning for high risk weather.
The ADF left the Queensland and New South Wales border in September this year and haven’t been back since.
Meanwhile, Chief Superintendent of Queensland Police Mark Wheeler said this morning to expect significant delays on the Queensland and NSW border today.
“Yesterday we saw delays on the M1 of up to 90 minutes at about 3pm and of course the backstreets around Coolangatta and the Tweed were congested so people need to plan for that,” Superintendent Wheeler said.
“Traditionally Christmas Eve people do travel going to their destinations, a big reminder though for people coming from the COVID-19 hotspot Greater Sydney you cannot enter via roads.”
TOURISM INDUSTRY’S HOLIDAY PLEA
Interstate travellers have been urged to keep their Queensland holiday bookings, with the Sunshine State’s crippled tourism industry hoping the borders will reopen in early-January.
Queensland Tourism Industry Council chief executive Daniel Gschwind said people should stick with their bookings if they’re expected to be able to travel, pleading, “We need you”.
It comes as another war of words erupted between the Queensland and NSW Governments, with Annastacia Palaszczuk claiming it was a “bit rich” for the southern state to start “blaming” Queensland following its hard border closure to greater Sydney.
The Premier said it wasn’t just Queensland who took the “tough measures” of closing the border.
“The health advice of nearly every other health officer across the country was advising their respective leaders exactly the same thing independently,” she said.
“These are measures because there has been a cluster outbreak in the northern beaches.
“I think it’s a bit rich for New South Wales to start blaming Queensland and Victoria and whichever other state and territory she wants to blame.
“This has happened in New South Wales.”
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian had slammed other premiers, claiming they were causing unnecessary “suffering” by shutting borders to greater Sydney amid the northern beaches cluster.
Queensland recorded one new case of COVID-19 yesterday, which was acquired internationally and detected in hotel quarantine.
Yesterday marked 99 days since the state’s last case of community transmission.
Mr Gschwind said tourism businesses had their fingers crossed the border would reopen on January 8 – which would mark 28 days of no unlinked cases across greater Sydney.
He said he was encouraged by NSW’s management of the outbreak and grateful Queensland’s border closure had been “measured”, with the tourism industry “gradually building” its “confidence” that the closure will be reversed around January 8.
Mr Gschwind urged travellers to not cancel their bookings out of fear.
“Stick to your bookings if for the time you’re expected to travel, you can travel,” he said.
“We need you.”
It echoed comments from Opposition Leader David Crisafulli who urged travellers to not pull the pin on their January, February and March bookings.
Meanwhile the Premier has defended her Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe who was forced to return from leave after just one day amid backlash from industry.
Pressed on whether it was Mr Hinchliffe’s decision to return from leave, the Premier said yes.
“I made it very clear to all ministers if they need to come back, they need to come back,” she said.
“They’re big enough to make their own decisions when they come back.”
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