‘One per cent chance’: Newest Qld Covid-19 case a rarity

Health authorities are breathing a sigh of relief after no community cases were detected in Queensland, but the most recent case has them puzzled.

Queensland recorded no new local cases of Covid-19 on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Queensland health authorities breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday after no new cases of Covid-19 were detected in the community, one day after a virus scare.

An Australian citizen, who quarantined in Brisbane after returning from the Philippines, tested positive to the Alpha strain on Wednesday after being infectious in the community for a week.

Genomic sequencing has identified the man is a direct match with three other travellers, unknown to him, who he was on two flights with — Manila to Port Moresby and from Port Moresby to Brisbane.

He acquired the virus while on the flight on July 2 or 3 but tested negative three times while in hotel quarantine at Quest Apartments.

A man who was staying at the City Backpackers on Roma St tested positive to Covid-19 on Wednesday, almost four weeks after he acquired the virus. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dan Peled

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said the other three travellers were sent to different hotels.

“This confirms for us that this gentleman has contracted it from one of the other travellers while in transit on the plane or through the airports,” she said.

Chief health officer Jeannette Young said the man had “clearly acquired it” in transit to Queensland.

“We realise that is a longer incubation period than we would normally expect, but we know around 1 per cent of people can have an incubation period longer than 14 days, as has happened with this gentleman,” Dr Young said.

After leaving, the man flew to Western Australia but stayed in hotel quarantine there for two days before he returned to Queensland.

Authorities believe he was infectious while on this flight and are now contact tracing passengers.

Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young said the man had experienced an unusually long incubation period, common in only 1 per cent of cases. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dan Peled

WA Health Minister Roger Cook said authorities did not believe the incident was a health risk to the state.

“We’re getting more information in relation to this, but we understand that a person who exited the hotel quarantine in Queensland then travelled to Western Australia for further travel,” he told reporters.

“They didn’t have a valid G2G Pass and were then required to isolate in a local hotel and returned to Brisbane.

“Some days later in Brisbane, they became symptomatic and have since been reported in yesterday’s numbers to be a positive Covid-19 patient.

“We don’t believe at this stage it represents any risk to the WA public, but this is obviously concerning that we’ve had another case now where someone has undertaken their hotel quarantine, left hotel quarantine and then become positive for Covid-19.”

More than 25,000 tests were carried out in Queensland on Wednesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Upon his return to Brisbane, the man checked in at a hostel on Roma St, where he stayed while unwell.

The risk of the latest case has prompted health authorities to extend South East Queensland’s mask mandate that was due to lift on Friday morning.

“We know that people were hoping that the masks will lift, but I think we are up to 13 incursions of the virus through different outbreaks in Queensland over the last six weeks,” Ms D’Ath said.

“We have been able to contain all of these outbreaks to very small numbers. That is in some small part to the restrictions we have had in place ... It is important that we continue to practise mask wearing to ensure that we don’t have transmission through our community.”