First Gold Coast coronavirus respiratory clinic to open in Burleigh Waters in bid to detect virus hot spots

A pop-up respiratory clinic will open on the Gold Coast tomorrow in a bid to find potential coronavirus hot spots across the Gold Coast.

A POP-UP respiratory clinic will open in Burleigh Waters tomorrow as health authorities expand their testing in a bid to find potential coronavirus hot spots across the Gold Coast.

Located at 13/109 West Burleigh Road, the Burleigh Cove Respiratory Clinic is one of four hotspot clinics being set up across the city in the next few weeks, with others to be located at Nerang, Upper Coomera, and Hope Island.

Last month Gold Coast Primary Health Network (PHN) board chair Dr Roger Halliwell said authorities were preparing for at least a quarter of Gold Coasters – about 140,000 people – to be infected by COVID-19 by the end of September.

Of those, health bosses were expecting 27,000 coronavirus sufferers to receive hospital treatment in the next six months.

Dr Halliwell said Commonwealth Government-funded clinics were available by appointment only, either by phone or booking online, to avoid people waiting in queues.

A pop-up respiratory clinic is opening in Burleigh Waters tomorrow.

“Anyone that is very short of breath and feeling really terrible should call an ambulance, this clinic is for anyone with respiratory symptoms, including a sore throat, sore cough and a fever,” he said.

He said doctors and nurses associated with nearby Burleigh Cove Medical were staffing the clinic and would assess and then test people with respiratory symptoms.

If a diagnosis for coronavirus was made then contact tracing would begin and patients would start “hospital in the home” through a virtual ward where they would be contacted by health officials at least once day to check on their progress.

“The restrictive testing guidelines have been relaxed considerably, and while there’s no new cases in the past 24 hours in Queensland, these clinics will be testing to see if hot spots are popping up in certain parts of the Gold Coast.

“Positive cases leads to contract tracing, which is a very detailed but necessary process in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.”

Four respiratory clinics are opening on the Gold Coast to detect coronavirus hot spots in the community.

To book a free appointment at the Burleigh Cove Respiratory Clinic, call 0410 831 919 or visit www.burleighcrc.com.au

Meanwhile, Queensland has recorded no new cases of COVID-19 for the second time in three days, with the state’s total now at 1024. As of Tuesday afternoon, 190 cases of COVID-19 were detected in the Gold Coast.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has also revealed a new website full of details about Queensland cases will be launched today.

Health Minister Steven Miles said Queensland couldn’t do better than zero cases.

More than 90,000 tests have been undertaken across the state, with 2613 people tested yesterday alone.