Health Minister Yvette D’Ath announces zero new Covid-19 cases on Friday, says infected Qld residents will be border blocked

Visiting family or friends in the southern states for Christmas? Holiday-makers run the risk of getting stuck, Health Minister Yvette D’Ath has revealed.

Holiday-makers who travel to New South Wales or Victoria over the Christmas break will be stuck in the southern states if they end up diagnosed with Covid-19.

Speaking at a coronavirus press conference on Friday morning, Health Minister Yvette D’Ath clarified what would happen should a Queensland resident contract the virus interstate.

A Queensland-New South Wales border checkpoint at Coolangatta. Picture: Matt Roberts/Getty Images

A journalist asked: “Minister, just to clear something up, if I go on holidays to NSW as a Queensland resident, contract Covid, I get my test and I test positive, what do I do?
“Am I allowed to be hospitalised here, back in Queensland, or have I got to stay back in NSW?” he said.
Ms D’Ath replied that infected Queensland residents “should be following the rules that apply to that jurisdiction”.

“So all of us have our public health directives that say when someone tests positive they have to follow that public health directive in that state, and that’s what people should be doing,” she said.
“Generally, we don’t allow people to travel who are positive.
“We have allowed people who are in quarantine to move back into their state if they reside elsewhere.”

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath. Picture: Liam Kidston

Queensland residents will have to self-isolate in accommodation in NSW if they “have a Covid-19 test or are diagnosed with Covid-19, or have been told you are a close or casual contact of a confirmed Covid-19 case”, the NSW government states.
Anyone seriously ill with the virus over the border should promptly seek medical help.

This comes as 81 people are trapped in Aquarius Backpackers hostel in Byron Bay, after a Covid-positive, unvaccinated staffer put them at risk of infection.

Guests describe “barriers and chains” across the fence to the hostel.

Meanwhile, Ms D’Ath said no new cases had been recorded in the previous 24 hours and there was just five active cases across the state.

Queensland has gone 14 days without an active case in the community in Queensland.

Ms D’Ath said the state needs to “lift up (its) vaccination numbers” and “particularly for people on the Gold Coast”.

She said 85.57 per cent of eligible Queensland residents had received one dose and 74.93 per cent had received two doses of a coronavirus vaccine.

Ms D’Ath revealed pop-up Covid-19 vaccination clinics would be held at Carrara Markets, Pacific Fair and other unnamed tourism ventures this weekend.

Queensland deputy CHO Dr Peter Aitken. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“If you’re out doing your Christmas shopping, don’t leave it to the last minute,” she said.

Deputy chief health officer Dr Peter Aitken again urged Queenslanders to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

He said the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) had confirmed people with two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine were 90 per cent less likely to die from the virus.