Queensland government reveals two locally acquired Covid-19 cases at Gaven and Biggera Waters on Gold Coast

Queensland Health is frantically tracing the steps of two men to prevent the Gold Coast’s first Covid outbreak in more than six months.

QUEENSLAND Health is frantically tracing the steps of two men to prevent the city’s first Covid outbreak in more than six months.

A Biggera Waters man aged in his 50s and a Gaven man both tested positive to Covid on Wednesday. The latter, a fully-vaccinated truckie who tested positive in NSW, spent three days infectious in the community from September 25-27.

The two people are believed to have visited locations in Currumbin, Mermaid Beach, Mermaid Waters, Miami, Merrimac, Nerang, Palm Beach and Surfers Paradise while infected.

Late on Wednesday, Queensland Health added seven Gold Coast sites to its Covid-19 exposure list.

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath. Picture: Liam Kidston

The last locally acquired Covid case on the Coast was a stripper/labourer who went to northern NSW in March.

Mask restrictions have been tightened on the Gold Coast. They include the wearing of masks inside, including at work – unless it’s unsafe, you are eating or drinking, alone, or only with members of your household.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said on Wednesday morning the Biggera Waters case was a close contact of the aviation training worker revealed as infected by the virus on Tuesday.

“We know that the virus is on our doorstep. We have been saying this for some time now,” she said.

“The genomic sequencing that came back on the two different clusters yesterday show that this virus is not linked to any existing Queensland cases. That these are linked to interstate and potentially overseas.

“That’s good news. It means we don’t have any evidence of the virus circulating in the community from previous clusters. But it shows once again the risk to Queenslanders of this virus coming across our borders.”

On Wednesday, NSW recorded 863 new local cases and 15 deaths and Victoria, 950 cases and seven deaths.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said he was “confident” Gold Coasters would step up in the face of the fresh cases.

“We have shown incredible resilience throughout this pandemic and I remain confident that if everyone who believes they may have been at an exposure site gets tested and self-isolates, our city will come through this,” he said.

The new cases have emerged as Queensland’s vaccination rates remained among the worst in the country, lagging behind Western Australia, according to Australian government statistics.

On Tuesday, 64.6 per cent of eligible Queensland residents had received their first dose and 45.6 per cent were fully vaccinated.

Gold Coast Health stated “just over 61 per cent of Gold Coasters aged over 16 have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine”.

Opposition leader and Broadwater MP David Crisafulli called for a “two-fold” approach to a city lockdown.

“If we’re on the cusp of another scenario where an outbreak is upon us, we must (have) another business support package,” he said.

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