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Easter looks ‘positive’ says Premier, as Queensland awaits lockdown call
By Lydia Lynch and Cloe Read
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said “the signs for Easter are looking positive” as she revealed the decision on whether the greater Brisbane lockdown would be extended would be announced at 9am on Thursday.
The state recorded three new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours - two acquired locally and one detected in hotel quarantine.
The locally acquired cases were linked to the COVID-19 ward at Princess Alexandra Hospital, a nurse who had received her first vaccine dose and her roommate.
The nurse was infected by a returned traveller from India. The person infected another nurse, who passed the virus onto a group of women who had attended a bachelorette party at Byron Bay.
Ms Palaszczuk said there were no unlinked community cases, which was a good sign.
“If it is encouraging news tomorrow, we will be lifting the hotspot for greater Brisbane,” the Premier said.
No cars visible on the Riverside Expressway in Brisbane’s CBD during Brisbane three-day lockdown.Credit: Attila Csaszar
“What I say to the public is, this is very encouraging, and we’ll be providing you with an update again tomorrow at 9am.
“Fingers crossed, all will be looking good for Easter, but like I said, it depends on the testing rates again.
“So if we see very good testing rates across Queensland and we don’t see any unlinked community transmission, the signs for Easter are looking positive.”
Eight coronavirus cases in Queensland were linked to a cluster involving a doctor from the PA hospital and 11 to the nurse cluster.
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young confirmed two people who attended the bacherlorette party were being treated at Toowoomba and Bundaberg hospitals.
More than 33,000 COVID tests were done in Queensland in the past 24 hours.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath has been swabbed for the virus after developing a sore throat.
Cases have ramped up rapidly, with the state’s hospitals treating 71 COVID-19 patients, compared with five in February.
“The number that have been acquired overseas is 58, so that’s 58 out of the 71,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
Eight local cases were confirmed on Tuesday and four on Monday.
Contact tracers have been working around the clock to track down thousands of people who visited sites at the same time as infectious people.
More than 80 venues have been added to the tracing hit list including in greater Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Gladstone, Gin Gin and Toowoomba.