Mystery Covid case the key to a snap lockdown

Government insiders insist they have not changed their response to Covid-19, but say face masks, fast contact tracing and increasing vaccination rates have avoided the need for a snap lockdown – but a mystery case could be our downfall.

One mystery case of Covid-19 could plunge millions of Queenslanders into lockdown as Annastacia Palaszczuk warns the next 24 hours will be “absolutely critical” to halt the worsening outbreak.

Government insiders insist they have not changed their response to Covid-19, but say face masks, fast contact tracing and increasing vaccination rates have avoided the need for a snap lockdown so far.

South East Queensland remains on a knife’s edge with a growing number of linked community Covid-19 cases rapidly spreading across the Brisbane, Gold Coast, Moreton Bay and Townsville regions.

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Sources said the major saving grace so far has been that all cases have been able to be traced to their origin within 24 hours.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Dr Jeannette Young at the new Pinkenba Vaccination Centre, Brisbane International Cruise Terminal. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

But authorities say any mystery infections that can’t be linked to known cases in coming days could signal that the virus is spreading through the community unchecked, making a lockdown more likely.

To ease the risk of a major outbreak, Sunday’s once-in-a-generation Queensland NRL Grand Final will be played in front of a 75 per cent capacity crowd.

The Premier has been forced to hose down claims she is reluctant to call a snap lockdown ahead of the major sporting event and insisted she would take advice from Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young.

“Let me make it very clear that the health of Queenslanders comes first and as soon as Dr Young says we need to move into lockdown, we will,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

Queensland recorded six new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday.

Four were linked to an aviation worker who first tested positive on Tuesday, a fifth person was detected in hotel quarantine and a sixth person was a woman who travelled from Kyogle in New South Wales to her home at Camp Hill.

Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said an investigation had been launched into how the woman crossed the border.

Police are continuing to probe how a Sydney-based truck driver crossed the border and spent eight days in the Brisbane community while infectious.

“There are a number of investigations in relation to people that have come across our borders recently that have gone positive, they are still ongoing,” Mr Gollschewski said.

One of the new cases is a 14-year-old girl who is the daughter of a man connected to the aviation cluster, and she was among 52 lifesavers taking part in a school holiday bronze medallion course at Southport Surf Club this week.

Surf Life Saving Queensland Gold Coast co-ordinator Nathan Fife said the course was cancelled and participants were told to get tested and isolate at home for 14 days.

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young speaks during Thursdays Covid-19 update press conference. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Increasing vaccination rates, mask compliance and the lack of mystery cases has delivered cautious optimism to authorities, but Ms Palaszczuk warned there were clear guidelines on what would trigger a lockdown.

“It’s going to depend each day how things progress in the state, whether Queenslanders wear their masks, whether they go and get tested,” she said.

“We’re actually moving to tighter restrictions, our vaccination rates are up, people are checking in, but as soon as we see further seeding, which is not from people who are in isolation, then they will be the trigger points that Dr Young will look at.

“It’s going to be very critical the next 24 to 48 hours about whether or not we see any seeding into the community.”

There are more than 1170 people in home quarantine across the state.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath Queenslanders must follow Dr Young’s advice to avoid a lockdown.

“The current cases we’re seeing in Queensland aren’t the result of unchecked community spread – we know the source of these infections,” she said.

Dr Young said people should urgently get their Covid-19 jab, with “plenty of vaccine” available.

“It doesn’t concern me if we run out because we’ll get more,” she said.

“It would be delightful if we ran out of the vaccine that we’ve got on our shelves, in our fridges today.”

Dr Young also defended the eight-hour delay on Wednesday for Queensland Health to publish Gold Coast exposure sites.

At the morning’s press conference Dr Young provided a list of Coast suburbs visited by two Covid-positive men, but said it took time to confirm those locations.

“For some of the sites there was very little exposure and we were able to work out exactly who was caught up in it,” she said.

“So we didn’t need to list them publicly because I don’t want to list more sites than I need to because there’s already far too much information there for people to go through.”

Ms Palaszczuk said authorities were often scrambling to “double check” information provided by a Covid-positive person before releasing clear information.

“It would be reckless for us not to do that,” she said.

- Additional reporting Greg Stolz

Originally published as Mystery Covid case the key to a snap lockdown