Qld coronavirus: Latest news on COVID-19 in state

Queensland has recorded one new case of coronavirus in the past 24 hours - an 11th case connected to the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre, with authorities still investigating the source for the growing cluster.

There has been one new case of coronavirus in Queensland in the past 24 hours - connected to the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre cluster.

The new case is a close contact of someone who has contracted the virus through the Wacol cluster.

Brisbane COVID cases: How authorities are tracking cluster link

UQ COVID vaccine successful in early stages

Premier Annastacia Palascczuk said more than 20,000 tests had been conducted in the past 24 hours, which is the highest to date.

It comes as authorities continue investigating a possible link between a COVID-19 cluster at Brisbane’s Youth Detention Centre at Wacol and an earlier cluster at Logan that arose after three young women returned to Queensland from Melbourne.

Early genomic results showed the outbreaks were the same strain of COVID-19.

Ms Palaszczuk said authorities hope to have final test results of all staff at the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre by tomorrow afternoon.

Deputy Premier and Health Minister Steven Miles thanked every Queenslander for getting tested.

“We need to keep it up,” he said.

Time to validate COVID-19 tests has grown slightly however Mr Miles reported there were shorter wait times yesterday.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said there was still a risk there could be further cases.

“We need to keep those numbers going though,” she said about testing.

Dr Young conceded authorities still didn’t know the link between the original case.

“Where did they actually originally get it from which means we could have more cases out there in the community that have resulted in this cluster,” she said.

“Clearly not a lot because we’re doing so much testing but that means we’ve got to keep those very high rates of testing in place.”

Dr Young urged anyone - if they lived in the areas of Brisbane, Logan, West Moreton or Ipswich - to get tested if they had any symptoms.

There are two theories surrounding the latest cluster - that it may have been sparked by a yet-unidentified visitor to the detention centre, or by a traveller who imported the virus from interstate.

There were no new cases in the state on Tuesday.

The detention centre cluster now involves 11 cases – five staff members, and six members of their families.

On the issue of wearing masks, Dr Young, when asked, said it was acceptable for beauty therapists to be exempt from using them because of COVID safe plans.

“We’ve got to remember this has been going on in our community for seven months now and people have done an absolutely amazing job,” she said.

“We have not seen widespread transmission and that’s because of what everyone has done.”

It comes as 64 flights arrived in Queensland in the past 24 hours, with two passengers denied entry.

Ms Palaszczuk defended an exemption given to two Victorian workers involved in tonight’s fight between Jeff Horn and Tim Tszyu in Townsville, saying they were experts in their fields, and the only ones who could carry out the work required.

Dr Young said locals could not have undertaken the work because it was “highly specialised”.

“The event could not have gone ahead if this work had not happened,” she said.

“This event is very important for many reasons and two workers going into a vacant area is not a risk.

“So these two workers were in hotel quarantine and were able to leave that to go and do their work and then go back to hotel quarantine.”

Meanwhile, a Brisbane virologist says there could be several missing cases because not enough Queenslanders are getting tested.

University of Queensland virologist Associate Professor Ian Mackay said not enough Queenslanders were being tested, considering about 20,000 people could be tested in a day.

“It’s hard to believe at any given point that only 6000 people are sick, we expect there to be more illnesses such as those with respiratory symptoms,” he said.

Originally published as Qld coronavirus: Latest news on COVID-19 in state