As it happened: Victorian COVID-positive case travelled to Sunshine Coast via NSW; restrictions to ease in Melbourne with 25km travel limit

Thanks very much for joining us on our national blog today, that’s all from us. If you’re just jumping online, here’s a quick recap of the major news items.

• A 44-year-old woman has tested positive for COVID-19 after driving from Victoria to Queensland via NSW. The woman and her partner left Melbourne on June 1 and arrived in Queensland on June 5. NSW and Queensland health authorities have listed several exposure sites from the interstate journey on their websites.
• Three people from Melbourne have been caught trying to enter New Zealand while travel arrangements have been placed on hold due to Victoria’s COVID-19 outbreak. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said the interception of the residents shows their system works.
• A lawyer acting for Ben Roberts-Smith in his proceedings against his ex-wife is “not in a relationship” with the former special forces soldier, his barrister has said in a fiery hearing after questions were raised by a Federal Court judge. Mr Roberts-Smith launched urgent Federal Court proceedings last week against his former wife, Emma Roberts, who is expected to give evidence for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald in her ex-husband’s high-stakes defamation case against the mastheads.

• The NSW Blues are set to roll the dice by making a late reshuffle for the opening game of the State of Origin series. Blues coach Brad Fittler is expected to switch wingers Josh Addo-Carr and Brian To’o for the game in Townsville despite repeated denials from NSW coaching staff during the week. Follow the live blog here

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the interception of three Melbourne residents who attempted to travel to the country shows their system works.

Australia and NZ still have their travel bubble in place but travel from Melbourne has been paused during the current COVID-19 outbreak which is reportedly why the three people travelled to Sydney and flew to Auckland from there.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.Credit: Joe Allison/Getty Images

The New Zealand Herald reported the family were trying to attend a funeral.

They were identified upon arrival and sent into 14-day quarantine with authorities reporting they had tested negative to COVID-19 on their first test.

Ms Ardern said the situations showed her country’s system worked and she hoped it would discourage others from trying to travel the same route.

“For anyone considering breaching the rules that we have in place, you see in this case the family has been picked up and they have been put into a managed isolation facility, so there are consequences,” Ms Ardern said.

“As for fines, those decisions sit elsewhere.”

NSW Health has added two more venues to its list of exposure sites for the Victorian couple who drove through NSW to Queensland earlier this month.

NSW Health listed Dubbo Shell Petrol Station, corner of Victoria and Whylandra Streets on June 2 between 10.30am to 11.30am and Woolworths Moree, 215 Balo Street on June 3 between 3.30pm and 4.30pm.

Anyone who was at those places during those times is asked by NSW Health to get a COVID-19 test and isolate until receiving further advice from NSW Health.

The couple made stops at Gillenbah, Forbes, Dubbo and Moree including signing into several venues using QR codes.

Thanks very much for joining us on our national blog today, that’s all from us. If you’re just jumping online, here’s a quick recap of the major news items.

• A 44-year-old woman has tested positive for COVID-19 after driving from Victoria to Queensland via NSW. The woman and her partner left Melbourne on June 1 and arrived in Queensland on June 5. NSW and Queensland health authorities have listed several exposure sites from the interstate journey on their websites.
• Three people from Melbourne have been caught trying to enter New Zealand while travel arrangements have been placed on hold due to Victoria’s COVID-19 outbreak. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said the interception of the residents shows their system works.
• A lawyer acting for Ben Roberts-Smith in his proceedings against his ex-wife is “not in a relationship” with the former special forces soldier, his barrister has said in a fiery hearing after questions were raised by a Federal Court judge. Mr Roberts-Smith launched urgent Federal Court proceedings last week against his former wife, Emma Roberts, who is expected to give evidence for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald in her ex-husband’s high-stakes defamation case against the mastheads.

• The NSW Blues are set to roll the dice by making a late reshuffle for the opening game of the State of Origin series. Blues coach Brad Fittler is expected to switch wingers Josh Addo-Carr and Brian To’o for the game in Townsville despite repeated denials from NSW coaching staff during the week. Follow the live blog here

The NSW Blues are set to roll the dice by making a late reshuffle for the opening game of the State of Origin series.

Blues coach Brad Fittler is expected to switch wingers Josh Addo-Carr and Brian To’o for the game in Townsville despite repeated denials from NSW coaching staff during the week.

NSW wingers Josh Addo-Carr and Brian To’o share a laugh at the start of last week.Credit: Gregg Porteous/NRL Photos

For the second series in a row, Addo-Carr will switch from his preferred left side to play outside of Tom Trbojevic on NSW’s right edge, but the greater focus will be on the 182cm To’o on debut up against 195cm Maroons winger Xavier Coates.

In the lead up to NSW selecting their side for game one, selectors were concerned about the height of To’o against Coates, who is one of the best leapers and tallest wingers in the game.

But Fittler has put aside those concerns and made the call to pin the Panthers metre-eater against Coates, a selection that will shift Addo-Carr away from close friend Latrell Mitchell.

Read the full story here and catch our Origin live blog from 6pm

Returning to the Queensland press conference from earlier on, there was some discussion about whether the travellers had broken rules by travelling from Victoria.

Police Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski would not comment when asked whether the woman had lied on her border declaration form and defended the state’s screening of travellers.

Entry to Queensland has been banned from May 28 for anyone who has been in Victoria for the past 14 days.

“Our primary focus at the moment is contact tracing ... but of course we are going to investigate the circumstances of what’s happened here,” he said.

“We’ve got a couple that’s come from Victoria when Victoria’s in a lockdown.

“But of course we are going to investigate the circumstances of what’s happened here, we’ve got a couple that have come from Victoria when Victoria is in lockdown into Queensland.”

He said “all the aspects of how that’s occurred” would be scrutinised.

“We’ll examine all those issues around passes, whether they were appropriate and what has happened it is too early to say, the whole purpose of our investigation will be to establish the facts, that has not happened yet so we’re not going to speculate about any of that at the moment,” he said.

Moree Mayor Katrina Humphries said she was “very disappointed” the town in northern NSW has made its way onto the state’s list of venues visited by a positive COVID-19 case.

“We’ve been very COVID aware and we’ve kept COVID out of our community and hopefully that will remain the same,” Cr Humphries said, adding for certain testing would begin first thing tomorrow morning.

The 44-year-old woman who had tested positive after arriving in Queensland had visited several places in Moree between June 3 and 5, including the Gwydir Motel & Thermal Pools, Cafe Omega and Amaroo Tavern.

“Quite frankly, the horse has probably bolted with this because it’s nearly a week ago that the infected [person] arrived,” Cr Humphries said.

“Quite frankly, I don’t thank anyone for coming out of areas that have COVID and trying to escape [through] rural communities.

“We have to shut [the] council down for tomorrow and probably the next day to make sure we lead by example.”

NSW and Queensland health authorities have released their lists of exposure sites following news a woman travelled from Victoria to Queensland before testing positive for COVID-19.

Anyone who lives in or has visited these areas since June 1, is asked to be especially vigilant for the onset of even the mildest of cold-like symptoms, and is urged to come forward for testing immediately if they appear, then isolate until a negative result is received.

There are more than 300 COVID-19 testing locations across NSW, many of which are open seven days a week. To find your nearest testing clinic, visit: https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/how-to-protect-yourself-and-others/clinics, or contact your GP.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said it remained unknown what strain the new positive case was, but genome sequencing was currently underway.

“It was quite a late CT [cycle threshold] value on the test so we aren’t sure we will be able to sequence it,” Dr Young said.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath says, so far, there is no evidence of community transmission.

“This is not someone who has been affected in Queensland,” she said.

“Hopefully there are no other positive cases and there is no actual local committee transmission but it is very early.

“We’ve had this information for a matter of hours and it is only in the last hour that we have had absolutely confirmed this is the positive case by double-checking the results.”

A 44-year-old woman has tested positive for COVID-19 after driving from Victoria to Queensland via NSW.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said the woman was tested on Tuesday and had been confirmed positive on Wednesday.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young.Credit: Supplied

The woman visited a number of places, including Toowoomba and Goondiwindi.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the woman travelled with her partner, leaving Melbourne on June 1, arriving in Queensland on June 5, “and she travelled up through NSW and crossed the border at Goondiwindi.”

“She has been out and about on the Sunshine Coast since she arrived on the fifth of June,” Dr Young said.

Exposure sites visited by the woman include Goondiwindi McDonalds at 7.35am on June 5, a Caltex petrol station in Toowoomba at 11am on June 5 and locations on the Sunshine Coast, including Moffat Beach and Kings Beach.

Dr Young says six close contacts have been identified.

“I’m waiting for serology results to see just how long she’s had this,” she says.

“She only arrived in Queensland on the fifth [of June].

“She could well have been infectious while she was travelling through New South Wales.”

Dr Young is asked whether it is frustrating that someone has potentially caused an outbreak.
She says any case of COVID-19 is frustrating.

“The community has had to put up with so much now for 18 months and do this again, doesn’t matter because, any community case of COVID is going to be frustrating for a lot of people,” she says.

She urged people with symptoms to come forward and get tested.

It’s just a few hours until the State of Origin series kicks off in Townsville tonight (kick-off at 8.10pm, our live blog starting from 6pm), with NSW looking to avenge the disappointment of last year’s failed campaign.

The Herald breaks down everything you need to know for the big game, from kick off times to key match-ups for the series opener in Townsville.

Turbo and Trell ... Tom Trbojevic and Latrell Mitchell have been picked in the centres for the Blues.Credit: Gregg Porteous/NRL Photos

NSW coach Brad Fittler has gone with a heavy Penrith Panthers flavour in his team for the series opener, which has been moved from Melbourne as a result of COVID-19 lock-down laws in Victoria.

The Blues head into the match as favourites despite the fact they will play the opening two games of the series in enemy territory.

The man most under pressure is Blues halfback Nathan Cleary, who is looking to break a reputation that has left many critics questioning his ability to get the job done on the biggest stage.

Cleary will partner Panthers teammate Jarome Luai in the halves, a combination that goes back to their teenage days coming through Penrith’s junior representative teams.