Annastacia Palaszczuk extends lockdown for Brisbane and Moreton Bay LGAs

Annastacia Palaszczuk has extended the lockdown for parts of Queensland after three new cases were recorded on Friday.

Queensland has recorded three new local cases of coronavirus and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has extended the three-day snap lockdown for 24 hours for parts of the state.

Ms Palaszczuk said on Friday that the lockdown would continue for 24 hours after 6pm tonight for Brisbane City Council areas and Moreton Bay local government areas.

The stay-at-home orders will end tonight for Noosa, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, Logan, Redlands, Gold Coast, Scenic Rim, Lockyer Valley, Somerset and Townsville.

“There will be restrictions that continue to apply – those restrictions will be in place for the next two weeks,” the Premier said.

“That means everyone will have to carry a mask on them and wear that mask whenever they’re outside of their home, but not when you are driving your vehicle, but obviously that means going to shopping centres, hospitals, aged care facilities, churches, everywhere else.”

Ms Palaszczuk made the decision after three new cases were detected overnight, including a mother and daughter from Carindale and a Brisbane International Airport employee, linked to a Qatar Airways check-in counter worker announced yesterday.

Health authorities do not know how the mother and daughter caught the virus.

Queensland health authorities said on Thursday that they were waiting on thousands of test results to determine whether the three-day lockdown should be extended.

But the Premier warned “we’re not out of the woods yet”.

“We’ve got got another 24 hours to see what happens and we will update you tomorrow in relation to whether or not we can (end) lockdown,” she said.

Ms Palaszczuk plunged southeast Queensland, Townsville, Palm Island and Magnetic Island into a snap lockdown on Tuesday after two new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 were detected.

A runner exercises on Story Bridge in Brisbane. Picture: Patrick Hamilton/AFP

One of them, a 19-year-old receptionist who works at Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane, had spent 10 days in the community while infectious with the highly transmissible Delta variant.

On Wednesday, three additional cases were detected, including the brother of the receptionist.

The Courier-Mail reported on Thursday morning that contingency plans were being worked out for restrictions to be extended, as health authorities anxiously await thousands of test results in order to pick up any hidden transmission of the virus in the community.

Neither of the two locally acquired cases announced on Thursday were connected to the hospital worker.

One was linked to the Portuguese restaurant cluster and was already in quarantine.

The other was a 37-year-old woman who works at the Qatar Airways check-in counter at Brisbane International Airport.

“She has been to very limited places around her local area,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

Ms Palaszczuk indicated on Tuesday that a decision would not be made until the latest data tomorrow morning.

“Hopefully we can get through these three days, fingers crossed, and things will be able to return to normal,” she said.

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A vaccination centre at Rocklea Showgrounds. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

South-east Queensland is in lockdown.

It came as Queensland Health added a newsagency at Brisbane Airport and cafe at the Prince Charles Hospital to a rapidly expanding list of exposure sites across Queensland.

Speaking at Wednesday’s update, chief health officer Jeannette Young said she was “running out of ideas” as the state battled multiple clusters at once, three involving the Delta variant.

“We know that the Delta variant is virtually impossible to control so I am going to have to look very carefully at what is the next step to make our hotels and our hospitals even safer than what they were,” Dr Young said.

“I am running out of ideas here of what we can do. Now this is not normal for a pandemic. Most viruses in a pandemic do not become worse they become better if I can put it as simple as that. So this is breaching every rule book.”

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Brisbane’s CBD on Wednesday. Picture: Patrick Hamilton/AFP

Queensland restrictions

Stay-at-home orders are now in place for southeast Queensland, Townsville, Palm Island and Magnetic Island.

The 11 southeast Queensland local government areas affected are Noosa, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, Logan, Redlands, Moreton Bay, Brisbane, Gold Coast, the Scenic Rim, Lockyer Valley and Somerset.

People in those areas can only leave their home for four “essential reasons”:

• To buy essentials such as groceries or medications
• Work or study if you can’t do either from home
• Exercise in your local area
• Healthcare or to provide help, care or support

Other restrictions are also now in place:

• Masks are mandatory outside the home
• Funerals are limited to 20 people and weddings to just 10, with no singing or dancing allowed
• Only two visitors are allowed in homes, including children
• Restaurants, pubs and cafes are limited to takeaway or home delivery only
• Places of worship, gyms, cinemas, entertainment and recreational venues, and beauty and personal care services are closed
• Aged care, correctional centres, hospitals and disability service providers are closed to visitors

Ms Palaszczuk said the restrictions would be reviewed on Friday morning.

“These measures are tough, but they are important to keep Queensland safe,” she said.

Dr Young said the bottom line was “we need people to not move around”.

“We’ve all done this before, we all know exactly what to do,” she said.