Queensland records three new local Covid-19 cases as fears in Byron Bay escalate

Queensland has recorded three new locally acquired cases as the NSW crisis edges closer to the border.

Queensland has recorded three new locally acquired cases of Covid-19, with all linked to the current school cluster in the state’s southeast and detected while in home quarantine.

Chief health officer Jeannette Young said the new infections reveal minimal exposure of spread in the community but warned late detection of the cases was a concern and provided an “ongoing risk”.

A Brisbane Grammar School student and an Ironside State School student tested positive on day eight and seven of their home isolation period respectively despite both initially returning negative results.

“I know how tough this must be for all of those people in home quarantine but it is really important that they maintain (isolation) for the full 14 days since they have been last exposed to an infectious person,” Dr Young said.

Dr Young pleaded with those in home quarantine to stay in isolation. NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

“It is critical (because) as people develop infections who are in those households, 14 days of quarantine unfortunately starts all over again.”

The third infection was a household contact to a known Brisbane Grammar School case.

Brisbane’s Delta cluster appears under control and Cairns remains under stay-at-home orders but NSW’s devastating outbreak edged closer to the border after Byron Bay was plunged into lockdown.

On Monday, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk warned she would cancel all access across the NSW-Queensland border if the outbreak threatened her state.