Coronavirus Qld: Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk reveals Queensland’s new COVID-19 case total

Queensland has recorded a new coronavirus case overnight – a 27-year-old man who dined with five others at a Brisbane restaurant attended by a woman who tested positive after returning from Melbourne.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has revealed Queensland has had one new case overnight – a 27-year-old male who was in quarantine – as more questions surround the three women charged with lying about visiting virus-riddled Melbourne.

It is believed the man caught COVID-19 after dining at a Korean restaurant in Sunnybank on July 23, which was also attended by one of the women who’ve since tested positive.

Queensland Health confirmed that it was the first official case of community transmission resulting from the womens’ movements and in a statement said: “the 27-year-old man from Bellbird Park was at the Madtongsan IV Restaurant in Sunnybank on July 23. Along with five others who are being COVID-19 tested, they dined on a table adjacent to one of the recently identified cases who returned from Victoria.”

Coronavirus QLD: Third member of COVID trio identified

Qld coronavirus: Top doctor’s warning to stop second wave

Women at centre of COVID outbreak charged

300 per cent spike in COVID-19 testing after new cases revealed

Qld coronavirus: Hours lost as infected woman refused to co-operate

Woolworths is encouraging staff and customers to wear face masks at its stores in Queensland’s coronavirus hotspots

Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the 27-year-old man was at Madtongsan IV with his wife and sister.

Dr Young said either the wife or sister works at the Bolton Clarke Aged Care facility in Pinjarra Hills.

Neither the wife or sister have tested positive to COVID-19, but remain in self-isolation.

A man who has tested positive to COVID-19 dined at a Korean restaurant at Sunnybank.

“So just until I find out which individual has had the infection, and which individual worked there, I’ve asked that the aged care facility take a very cautious response which they’ve immediately done,” she said.

“This has been ultra-cautious.”

She stressed it was very early information.

Dr Young said an updated list of places that were visited by one of the women who had returned from Melbourne wasn’t being released as she had “mainly stayed at home”.

She said she trusted that information.

“We have excellent police who have done a really good job all through this, we know police are very good at interviewing people who don’t necessarily want to tell the truth and we’ve checked that with supporting information from other travel companions so we’re pretty comfortable,” she said.

“But having said that we don’t know where this virus could be so here we’ve got a gentlemen in Bellbird Park who’s suddenly popped up positive.

“At any point in Queensland today we could have cases pop up, so that’s why the most important message is, if you’re sick stay home and get tested.”

The new Queensland figure comes as Victoria again records a massive 627 new cases overnight, while there were 21 new cases in NSW.

Mr Miles said testing records were broken yesterday in Queensland.

Some 9076 tests have been conducted in the past 24 hours, and there are 11 active cases in the state.

Ms Palaszczuk said authorities would be keeping a close eye on the evolving situation.

“I want Queenslanders to really think about social distancing,” she said.

“Complacency is our enemy.”

The Premier said she was very comfortable with the rapid response that had been put in place since three women tested positive to COVID-19.

Olivia Winnie Muranga, 19, Diana Lasu and Haja Timbo, 21, were spoken to by police about breaching health directives put in place to stop the spread of coronavirus and heavily fined – just two days before allegedly lying to get back into Queensland.

Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said police now had high confidence they had all the information about where the three women had been since their return to Queensland.

Ms Palaszczuk warned there would be delays at the border in coming days when Queensland shuts greater Sydney out from 1am on Saturday.

Anyone coming into Queensland has been urged to be patient, with Mr Gollschewski saying about 8000 people would come back into Queensland today.

Asked what else people would be requested to provide at the border, aside from identification and the relevant passes, Mr Gollschewski said depending on where people say they have travelled from, police will interrogate that further.

Mr Gollschewski’s comments follow revelations a Brisbane woman was fined and her companion arrested by NSW police after a brazen attempt to enter Queensland from coronavirus hot spots in Sydney.

“So the example with the person that came over the border early this morning at Coolangatta is the story didn’t add up. When police dug into it further they found out that she’d actually come out of Fairfield in Sydney and had put a false declaration in,” he said.

That person was fined $4000 and turned around.

“Our officers are very good ... at questioning people in working out what’s going on, that’s what they’re paid to do.”

Mr Gollschewski reiterated there was very good cooperation with the airlines when asked whether processes should change so flight manifests could be accessed more readily.

It comes after he said manifests were accessed when investigations were being conducted, ,citing privacy issues yesterday.

“You’ve got to remember the massive numbers we’re talking about here, so 8000 passengers here today,” he said.

“The vast majority are doing the right thing, they all will have a border declaration pass, we’ve had significant numbers of people that just make simple errors and we work through that with them.

“We know what the error rates are and there are very, very few who are deliberately falsifying records and we’ve been managing to capture them as well.”

Police however are not manning every single entry point into Queensland around the clock, with Mr Gollschewski saying “they’re not staffed 24/7 necessarily way out in the remote parts of Queensland.”

“There’s very small back tracks,” he said.

“But what we have got is patrols in those areas and police doing intercepts of people that are in that area to check whether they’ve come across or not.”

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said additional police resources have been put in place to help manage traffic at the border.

“We have seen community members making comments about certain cultural groups,” she said.

“People doing the wrong thing come from all walks of life.

“It is important ...that community groups actually come together.”

Overnight, Queensland’s Chief health Officer Jeannette Young called on those criticising the foolish behaviour of others to also think about their own as she urged people to stay home when sick, wash their hands and socially distance.

“If you’re criticising these people for their actions but have given fake names or false contact details at a café or restaurant, you’re also a problem,” she said.

Inconsiderate behaviour could be the difference between Queensland maintaining control of COVID-19 and “completely losing its grip on the virus”, Dr Young said.

“What is happening in Victoria could very well happen here,” she said.

Originally published as Coronavirus Qld: Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk reveals Queensland’s new COVID-19 case total