QLD Premier said Covid ‘spot fires’ are breaking out across the country, spreading from NSW

New Covid cases have been recorded in regional NSW and SE QLD, and while the QLD Premier has urged Queenslanders to return home, the border remains open.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk speaking at a press conference in Brisbane. Picture: Tara Croser

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has remained silent on issues related to the NSW border after new cases of Covid-19 community transmission.

Ms Palaszczuk has this morning confirmed restrictions in place in 11 southeast Queensland local government areas will remain in place for an extra week until Friday, July 23.

Queensland has recorded five new cases of Covid-19 overnight.

Two of those are in hotel quarantine from overseas and three are considered cases of community transmission.

One of the community-transmitted cases was a 12-year-old boy, who completed quarantine in Sydney then flew to Brisbane on flight QF544 on July 9 and a parent of that boy, Ms Palaszczuk said.

The other case is a fully-vaccinated Brisbane International Airport worker.

“What we’re seeing is that these outbreaks are happening across the country,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“We’ve seen what’s happened in Victoria overnight with additional cases.

“We’ve seen this son and parent come from Sydney out of hotel quarantine.

“We’ve just got to get on top of these things quickly.”

Meanwhile, the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian NSW recorded 65 new cases of community transmission in the 24 hours to 8pm Wednesday – 28 of those were infectious in the community.

“We need to get that 28 number as close to zero as possible,” she said.

“I am predicting we will have higher case numbers tomorrow.”

In Queensland, Ms Palaszczuk stopped short of making any new order regarding the NSW border, instead reiterating her previous message that Queenslanders should reconsider travel to NSW or Victoria.

“If you are a Queenslander currently in Victoria maybe reconsider your travel and think about coming home,” she said.

“Reconsider your travel into NSW as well.

“We are seeing these little spot fires happen across the nation and we need to make sure we get this under control.”

Queensland’s chief health officer Jeannette Young said data from the NSW sewerage monitoring program had indicated no trace of the virus outside of the lockdown area.

“That is very good,” Dr Young said.

But she echoed the Premier’s concerns.

“If you don’t need to go to NSW at this time I’d strongly recommend that you delay that travel,” she said.

Dr Young said the 12-year-old boy, who had returned from the US, was believed to have contracted Covid-19 in Sydney.