Outrage as deceptive teens cause COVID chaos on Melbourne trip
Phone data is being used to track the movements of two women from Brisbane who travelled to Melbourne on an alleged mission to steal luxury handbags, with one now refusing to co-operate with contact tracers.
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Authorities are analysing the mobile phone data of two women who tested positive to coronavirus after lying to Queensland authorities about having travelled to Melbourne for an alleged shoplifting mission.
Olivia Winnie Muranga and Diana Lasu are expected to face further action from police regarding their trip to Melbourne and their actions on returning to Brisbane.
The 19-year-olds tested positive to coronavirus, after spending eight days moving around multiple locations in Brisbane while sick, with reports they travelled to Melbourne to allegedly steal luxury handbags to sell.
Authorities on Thursday morning revealed one of the women was not co-operating with contact tracers regarding her movements around Brisbane.
It is understood police and health authorities are using mobile phone data to ensure they get the full picture of the women’s movements since their return to Queensland.
“Unfortunately the second confirmed case has not wanted to let us know where she has been,” Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said.
“I don’t know where that second case has been.
“I am worried about the second individual who had not been cooperative and has not shared where she has been.
“People should be very cautious ... this is the time to go and get tested.”
Their actions created chaos, with news of them testing positive to coronavirus seeing Queensland shut its borders to Sydney, schools and shopping centres closed and nursing homes locked down.
Hundreds of people in Queensland who may have been exposed to the women while they were sick were tested on Wednesday and AFL clubs were scrambling to head north to beat the border closure.
The pair became Queensland’s first positive COVID-19 cases outside quarantine since May.
They have each been fined $4000 for making false declarations on their border paperwork, along with another travel companion, who is awaiting her COVID-19 test result.
It’s understood authorities are investigating whether the women went to a party during their stay, broken up by authorities who found about 20 people at a short-term rental in Melbourne’s CBD.
But the Herald Sun understands Ms Muranga and Ms Lasu are not wanted in Victoria and are not the subject of any ongoing investigation here.
A fourth woman — the 22-year-old sister of one of the COVID-positive girls — also tested positive to the virus late on Wednesday, forcing the closure of Chatswood Hills State School where she works at the after-school care service.
Authorities are bracing for a cluster in Brisbane’s south as contact tracers continue to chart where they went after returning from Melbourne.
Police also launched a criminal probe into how the girls evaded Queensland’s border restrictions that require people to isolate at a hotel if they have been to a COVID-19 hot spot, such as Victoria.
Part of their investigation will be into how their flights were booked from Melbourne to Brisbane, with a short layover at Sydney airport, and whether they used fake names and contact details on their border declaration passes.
It’s understood Ms Muranga went to work at Parklands Christian College in Brisbane’s southern suburbs — where her mother also works — for two days before calling in sick on Friday and visiting the doctor on Saturday, when she was told to immediately get tested.
Instead, she continued to socialise in Ipswich and Brisbane, going out to restaurants and a cocktail bar.
Finally getting tested on Monday, it’s understood Ms Muranga was out in the community before her positive test result came back on Tuesday.
Authorities have described the new cases as a “perfect storm”, with a big number of public places visited, the girls living in big households of up to 10 people, and authorities working to provide information in various languages to the African-Australian community.
Authorities are also examining whether the girls visited the Free Pentecostal Church of Australia in Springfield, Queensland.
Aged care homes in Brisbane’s south have been ordered to lockdown as a precautionary measure against potential community spread, prohibiting all visitors, instigating temperature checks and prohibiting staff from working across facilities.
At least 15 close contacts of the COVID-19 cases will be kept in hotel quarantine and the infectious girls are at the PA Hospital.
Scores of others from both schools were also last night in home quarantine after being ruled as close contacts of the three positive cases.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said there would be a “thorough police investigation” into the behaviour of the women.
“I’m absolutely furious that this has happened,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“These two people have gone to Victoria, have come back and have given misleading information to authorities.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said she was “very, very disappointed” in the “reckless” behaviour. “These two young women have been out in the community for eight days whilst unwell,” she said.
Ms Palaszczuk announced the new border restrictions between Queensland and greater Sydney after the women tested positive to coronavirus, putting AFL teams in a race against time to beat the closure.
Sydney and GWS will have to relocate interstate in the next 48 hours before the Swans play St Kilda at the Gabba on Saturday and the Giants play the Suns at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.
The NRL obtained assurances from the Queensland Government their travel exemptions, for their NSW based teams, would remain in place despite the latest border closure.
Originally published as Outrage as deceptive teens cause COVID chaos on Melbourne trip