Victoria likely to keep border closed to Brisbane even after lockdown ends
Tullamarine’s Holiday Inn, which was the centre of a COVID cluster in February, will once again quarantine returned travellers.
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Travellers touching down in Melbourne from Brisbane’s red zone will begin quarantining at a hotel that was at the centre of a COVID cluster in February.
A spokesperson for COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria said from Wednesday the Holiday Inn Airport hotel would resume operations as a dedicated quarantine hotel after undergoing ventilation checks.
“This hotel will accommodate red zone Brisbane arrivals as required and other community members requiring to quarantine safely,” the spokesperson said.
“The hotel has undergone a ventilation assessment, with minor remedial completed this week.
“The hotel has been approved by the Chief Health Officer to resume quarantine activities.”
COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria said Victorian residents would be able to quarantine at home, while Queensland residents would be put into hotel quarantine.
Victoria will resume international flights to Melbourne from April 8 after its hotel quarantine program was overhauled.
MAJOR BRISBANE HOSPITAL FORCED INTO LOCKDOWN
A Brisbane hospital has been placed into an emergency lockdown as the city grapples with a serious COVID-19 outbreak.
The Princess Alexandra Hospital was locked down on Tuesday afternoon, following an alert to staff.
Patients are being diverted to other hospitals but Princess Alexandra Hospital will still accept critical and category one elective surgery patients.
At least one new COVID-19 case has been recorded today and is linked to the hospital.
Staff were told in an email that if they had worked at the hospital campus from noon today to not work at another Metro South Health facility until the lockdown was removed.
Staff who worked in Ward 5D since March 18 are also being urged to get tested immediately.
“If you have been in ward 5D since 18 March 2021, then you should be tested and receive a negative result before working in another facility,” the directive said.
The lockdown will enable the hospital to put in place processes to manage the COVID-19 crisis in the city.
The hospital is the source of two cases of COVID-19 that forced Greater Brisbane into a snap three-day lockdown.
An unvaccinated Princess Alexandra Hospital doctor - along with two others - tested positive to COVID-19 in early March.
The doctor was infected by a hotel quarantine guest who had the UK-strain. That person is also believed to have infected another hotel quarantine guest, even though their rooms weren’t adjoining.
Meanwhile, Victoria will likely keep its border closed to Greater Brisbane even after the scheduled end of the city’s three-day snap lockdown.
Travellers’ Easter holiday plans were thrown into chaos after Victoria on Monday upgraded the region’s travel status to red, slamming the border shut amid Queensland’s worsening COVID-19 outbreak.
Acting Premier James Merlino said on Tuesday that a series of reviews would have to take place once the lockdown ended, before Victoria considers reopening the border.
Brisbane recorded eight new local cases on Tuesday as the city woke to its first day of lockdown.
Asked if he would insist that Queensland had no new cases of community transmission — a condition imposed on Victoria before other states lifted their border restrictions here — Mr Merlino didn’t rule it out and said it would depend on the health advice.
“I know this is, this is a difficult time in the year and, you know, family and friends want to connect across our country,” he said.
“The advice from our chief health officer and my advice to Victorians is to discourage any movement, any travel to Queensland.
“I know it’s a difficult time of the year, people had plans. But at the moment, for the next few days, we’re discouraging people from travel.”
Mr Merlino said he was confident authorities had been able to track any Victorian recently in Brisbane and defended the state’s permit system, despite reports from travellers that it was “broken”.
One recent arrival from Brisbane said they had been home for more than a week and had heard nothing from health authorities.
“I got tested because I saw the news,” he said.
“The permit system is broken. It is entirely voluntary and not enforced at the time of booking a flight, during a flight or upon arrival at Melbourne airport,” he said.
But Mr Merlino said that was incorrect.
“We’ve had public health teams at the airport, making sure that when travellers coming off the flight from Brisbane that they’re engaged, we go through the permit process.
“We’ve seen through the outbreaks in recent weeks in Queensland and New South Wales, the permit system working, we’ve established the traffic light system, the permits, as well as using the flight manifest so we can get in touch with people that have returned and making sure that they’ve done the right thing.”
Mr Merlino said public health teams would be responsible for enforcing compliance with quarantine conditions for anyone coming from Greater Brisbane.
“This is an obligation on people, everyone needs to do the right thing,” he said.
“If they don’t, then this virus gets out. And that’s exactly what we’re trying to avoid here.”
Anyone currently in Victoria who was in Greater Brisbane since March 12 must isolate, get a coronavirus test within 72 hours, and stay isolating until they receive a negative result.
BRISBANE FACING SECOND EASTER IN LOCKDOWN
Residents of Greater Brisbane are facing the possibility of spending their second Easter in a row in lockdown, as two “concerning” clusters continue to grow.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk would not rule out the possibility the lockdown could be extended, potentially through the Easter long weekend.
“In terms of the Greater Brisbane region, we just have to take this day-by-day,” she said.
“I said that we will give the most up-to-date information we can ever single morning. Do we expect to see more cases? Probably.
“The big question will be whether or not we see unlinked community transmission.”
When pressed on whether the lockdown might be extended until Tuesday, the Premier said it all “depends on what we see over the next 24 to 48 hours.”
“The next two days are critical for our contact tracers to get on top of this,” she said.
QLD OUTBREAK SWELLS TO 15 CASES
The latest cases bring the outbreak to 15, including two men from Brisbane’s north, a nurse and her sister and two people believed to be colleagues of one of the northside men.
Ms Palaszczuk said six of the cases are close contacts of previously confirmed cases and two are under investigation. There are 78 cases active in the state.
The Victorian Department of Health has warned against all non-essential travel to other parts of Queensland and Byron Bay.
Victorians in Brisbane wanting to come home will need to apply for a permit, then self-isolate for 14 days.
Non-Victorians and anyone who attended a high-risk exposure site will be barred from entry without an exemption.
Meanwhile, Victoria has recorded 31 consecutive days since its most recent case of local transmission.
More than 12,800 people received their test results while one active case — a male international flight crew member in his thirties — remains in hotel quarantine.
TRAVEL VOUCHERS GONE IN MINUTES
Victorians took three minutes to book out 50,000 regional travel vouchers that went online at 10am on Tuesday.
A message appearing on the Service Victoria website said the allocation was exhausted.
It was the third batch of $200 vouchers released as part of the Regional Travel Voucher Scheme, which brought the total number of vouchers to 160,000.
The third round vouchers are redeemable for the travel period between April 6 and May 31.
The scheme allows people to claim $200 back when they spend at least $400 on a minimum two nights’ paid accommodation, plus tours or attractions in regional Victoria.
The most recent round of 40,000 vouchers was snapped up within 15 minutes.
Acting Tourism Minister Jaala Pulford said on Tuesday it was “fantastic that so many people want to explore their state and support the businesses and workers that make Victoria the best place in the country to visit”.
“We know that our famous holiday destinations will be busy over Easter – these vouchers will help to ensure that demand stays high across April and May.”
The quick sellout of the vouchers left some unhappy.
Twitter user Katherine wrote: “I got on the computer to apply for a Victorian travel voucher at 10:01am. By the time I had filled the form out and clicked ‘apply’ at 10:04am they had sold out”.
UNCERTAINTY OVER QLD HOLIDAYS
One in seven Australians were expected to holiday in Queensland over Easter.
It comes as two additional Queensland cases of COVID-19 have been linked to an unvaccinated nurse.
Authorities are now confident she caught the virus while treating patients who had tested positive.
Victoria closed its border after Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced Greater Brisbane would enter a snap, three-day lockdown from 5pm Monday.
Residents will only be allowed to leave their house for four essential reasons: exercise, shopping for essentials, healthcare and caring, and work and school if they can’t be done from home.
Masks will be mandatory in all public indoor settings.
From 6pm, the municipalities of Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan City, Moreton Bay Region and Redlands were upgraded to “red zones” under Victoria’s traffic light travel permit system.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison backed the lockdown, saying it would give Queensland authorities time to get on top of the outbreak.
The sudden border closure sparked concern among tourism industry bodies, with Victoria Tourism Industry Council acting chief Chris Porter renewing calls for national consistency on border restrictions.
He said snap lockdowns were bad for business.
Ali Zamani, 33, of Edithvale, said he’d booked and paid for a flight to Brisbane on Thursday, but feared not being able to fly home. “I need to work … but I also want to be able to do things and travel without worrying about border control all the time,” Mr Zamani said.
Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton said the situation in Brisbane was “concerning” and discouraged Victorians from travelling up north over the Easter period.
“These are really tough calls and we don’t know what Queensland may look like from one day to the next,” he told ABC Radio.
“I’d really discourage people … but I understand that people have booked things well in advance.”
Qantas said it was offering “increased flexibility” for passengers while Virgin said it was offering “options” should travellers choose to cancel their flight.
“Qantas and Jetstar are offering increased flexibility for passengers who have bookings impacted by border restrictions, including the option to change travel dates or receive a flight credit,” a Qantas spokesperson said.
Flight credits will also be offered if a customer needs to cancel travel because of the border changes.
It comes as two tourist hot spots in New South Wales were listed as new high-risk exposure sites linked to the Queensland outbreak.
Byron Bay’s popular Byron Beach Hotel and The Farm, as well as the PCYC Pine Rivers in Queensland, were listed as hot spots on Monday afternoon.
In response, NSW’s Byron Shire and Queensland’s Gladstone region were upgraded to orange travel zones, meaning anyone currently in Victoria who was in either area since March 26 must isolate, get a coronavirus test within 72 hours, and stay isolating until they receive a negative result.
Meanwhile, no new local COVID cases were detected in NSW in the 24 hours to 8pm Monday night from more than 7000 tests.
MELBOURNE WINS IN BRISBANE LOCKDOWN
Collingwood fans have been delivered an unexpected Easter Eve footy bonanza as Brisbane’s snap lockdown forces a sports schedule shake-up.
The AFLW was also keeping a close watch on developments, with the Brisbane Lions to play at home in two weeks.
The NRL was bracing for possible schedule changes but Friday night’s clash between the Broncos and Melbourne Storm at AAMI Park was still going ahead.
Thursday night’s Round 3 AFL clash between Collingwood and Brisbane has been moved from the Gabba to Marvel Stadium amid the coronavirus chaos. It’s now a Collingwood home game.
Tickets to AFL members will go on sale at 10am on Tuesday and those for Pies members from 1pm. Brisbane members can buy tickets from 10am on Wednesday and the public can buy tickets from 1pm.
Marvel Stadium — which had its capacity increased to 75 per cent or 43,440 fans last week — was fortuitously already ready for the game as it will also host football on Good Friday.
AFL Fans Association president Cheryl Critchley said she expected Collingwood fans to get behind the last-minute switch, as well as Victorian-based Lions supporters, including the Fitzroy faithful of old.
“We accept this has to happen because it’s based on health advice and the situation in Brisbane,’’ Ms Critchley said. “It’s good for Collingwood supporters in Melbourne and Brisbane supporters who are based down here — there are still some Fitzroy fans.
“But we do feel for the Brisbane-based Lions fans who won’t be able to attend.
She said unexpected schedule changes were inevitable given the unpredictability of the pandemic.
Lifelong Collingwood fan Voula Bitsikas said the move was an unexpected bonus for local supporters.
“We are all going now,’’ she said. “Friday is a public holiday so people will go. You have to get behind them.”
Tickets already bought for Thursday’s original game in Brisbane can be returned for a full refund or used for the Round 22 clash between Collingwood and Brisbane.
It has now been made a Lions home game and will be played at the Gabba instead of Marvel Stadium.
The outbreak has put a cloud over the AFLW finals, with second-placed Brisbane due to have a bye this weekend and then host a preliminary final the following weekend.
The game was still proceeding as planned.
The Lions AFLW side on Monday encouraged fans to “mask up and stay safe this week Brisbane”.
But Collingwood megafan Jeff “Joffa” Corfe has been robbed of a chance to watch the Pies play for the first time in almost two years after being caught in Brisbane’s lockdown.
Corfe — who had been living in Fiji but moved to Brisbane to be with family in November — said he was set to buy tickets to Thursday’s game at the Gabba when news of the lockdown broke.
“I am livid,” he told the Herald Sun. “I was looking forward to seeing the Pies on Thursday night and I’m very, very unhappy.
“But what can you do? These are the times we live in.”
The NRL confirmed Friday’s match in Melbourne between the Broncos and Storm would proceed, with the Brisbane side flying out of Brisbane to Sydney on a chartered flight on Monday afternoon.
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