Massive queues outside COVID testing clinics in Brisbane and on Gold Coast
COVID testing clinics in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast have been inundated as hundreds rush to get tested in the wake of the Sydney outbreak.
Police & Courts
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Queenslanders have rushed to get tested for COVID-19 this morning, with long queues reported at hospitals in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
Huge line-ups were witnessed at testing clinics at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and at the Gold Coast University Hospital this morning.
It comes after Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young raised concerns there could be mystery cases of COVID-19 across Queensland with virus fragments detected in sewage in Cairns, Townsville, Cleveland and the Gold Coast.
Dr Young said she was concerned there were people across Queensland who were active COVID-19 cases, and urged anyone with symptoms to get tested and isolate until they have a result.
New South Wales this morning recorded 15 new locally-acquired cases with more than 38,000 tested in the past day.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk this morning announced there were zero new locally acquired cases, with 1 new case, acquired overseas, and detected in hotel quarantine.
Queensland currently has 10 active cases.
Police have also revealed that four Queenslanders were charged after they breached new rules allowing them to quarantine at home upon return from a COVID hotspot.
Authorities have given Queensland residents 24 hours to return and then quarantine at home, but some returning travellers have been caught breaking the rules.
Queensland Police Assistant Commissioner Shane Chelepy said in the last 48 hours, four people had been found not following home quarantine protocols.
“It’s a really serious matter, we’re giving those returning Queenslanders an opportunity to stay in home quarantine for the next 24 hours if they return during that period and we really need them to do the right thing,” he said.
“Police will be visiting all those people in home quarantine, but with the four people who have breached it, they have been subject to heavy fines and they’ve now been placed into hotel quarantine.”
With border checkpoints reinstated on the Gold Coast overnight, Assistant Commissioner Chelepy said those who couldn’t follow the rules would be fined and placed into hotel quarantine.
He said there would be border checkpoints increasing throughout the next 24 hours.
“It is a big operation, we now have police in every domestic airport in Queensland, we have had for a couple of days,” he said.
“To give you an idea, we met 44 flights yesterday and had to process over 7,000 people through our airports.”
It comes as heavy traffic returns to border suburbs as the rules change, with up to 20 minute delays impacting peak-hour traffic on Monday morning.
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