Coronavirus Australia: Passenger on Sydney to Brisbane Qantas flight had COVID-19

Queensland Health is trying to trace contacts of a person who flew from Sydney to Brisbane on Easter Monday while infectious with coronavirus.

A passenger on a packed Qantas flight from Sydney to Brisbane on Monday was infectious with COVID-19.

Queensland Health warned other passengers of the diagnosis by text and then a phone call before directing them to self-quarantine in an email on Thursday. The flight, QF520, arrived at Brisbane domestic terminal early on Monday afternoon.

“A person on this flight was infectious with COVID-19,” the Queensland Health email stated.

“You may be at risk of becoming unwell from exposure until midnight 27th April 2020.” Queensland Health did not answer questions and instead referred AAP to their ‘contact tracing alerts’ web page.

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It’s unknown if the passenger knew they were infectious when they boarded the flight, or when they were diagnosed with COVID-19.

The quarantining of passengers on the Qantas flight comes as Queensland records an additional five coronavirus cases overnight, bringing the state’s total of confirmed cases to 1001.

There are 21 Queenslanders in hospital, with 11 in intensive care. There are more than 6400 cases of coronavirus recorded across Australia with the majority in New South Wales.

A passenger on a Qantas flight may have passed the virus to others on board.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young called the limited numbers “excellent news”, but warned of case numbers increasing while Australians are being repatriated from around the world.

Ms Young said more than 85 per cent of cases were in some way related to overseas travel.

“The numbers will get worse because of those people returning from overseas,” she said on Thursday.

“That’s the group I’m concerned about.” Meanwhile, landlords are being urged to take a stand against proposed changes to Queensland’s rental market.

The changes would protect tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic, and include a ban on evictions.

If adopted, property owners must offer tenants at least a six-month extension if their lease ends, and tenants who can’t pay rent and want to end their lease early could do so.

The Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) says tenants are being prioritised at the expense of landlords.

REIQ chief executive Antonia Mercorella is leading the charge against the Palaszczuk to water down the changes.