Brisbane international airport worker infectious for three days at work

An airport worker who worked three shifts and went to a major supermarket while unknowingly infectious has put Queensland on edge.

Health authorities are scrambling to track and test anyone who was possibly exposed to a new Covid-19 case who works at the Brisbane International Airport.

Queensland recorded three new cases on Thursday but the airport worker is of most concern to chief health officer Jeannette Young given they unknowingly worked three shifts this week while infectious.

Dr Young said her team was urgently scouring key details of the woman who lives in Tarragindi and worked on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

She also visited the Woolworths at Annerley on Monday morning and Chemist Warehouse in the same suburb on Wednesday.

The woman, in her 40s, was fully vaccinated with Pfizer but Dr Young is anxious given the case’s high exposure potential and said she intends to zero-in on the airport.

Dr Young is urgently tracking information about the new infections. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

“We will be going in there like we did with the first two workers who were positive and (we will) be testing large numbers of people and working through all of their contacts,” the CHO told reporters on Thursday.

“I don’t know exactly where they work at the airport but we’ll just have to go through all of that and work out where she’s been.”

The two other local infections were a 12-year-old boy and his father who had tested positive on returning to Queensland days after completing hotel quarantine in Sydney.

The boy, from Newport, travelled with his mum to the United States where they stayed in Los Angeles for three months before returning to Sydney on June 21.

They finished quarantine on July 5 before arriving back in Brisbane on July 9 on flight QF544.

Dr Young said health officials were certain the boy acquired the virus in Sydney but they weren’t sure if it was in hotel quarantine or in the community.

The woman worked at the airport three days this week. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

The boy became unwell the evening after they arrived back on July 9 and saw a doctor at the Aspley medical centre on Tuesday before returning a positive result on Wednesday afternoon.

The CHO said his mum had so far tested negative but his dad, who works at a financial services firm in Maroochydore but did not travel to the US, was positive.

The dad attended work while infectious but at this stage it was believed they hadn’t been to any other exposure venues.

So far, just those who visited Aspley Medical Centre and Pharmasave on Tuesday as well as the Chemist Warehouse in Annerley at the listed times are considered close contacts and told to quarantine for 14-days regardless of the results of a Covid-19 test.

They are also urged to contact health officials.

Contact tracing preliminary update:

These are preliminary contact tracing locations in Queensland that were recently announced. These details may change once information is confirmed. Queensland Health will update on Thursday afternoon.

Friday July 9

Qantas Flight QF544 Sydney to Brisbane (landed 7.54pm)

Sunday July 11

Brisbane International Airport, 6.30am – 11.30pm

Monday July 12

Woolworths, Annerley, 10:36am – 11:36am

Brisbane International Airport (times TBC)

Tuesday July 13

Brisbane International Airport (times TBC)

Aspley Medical Centre, 1311 Gympie Road, Aspley, 2pm – 3.45pm (close contacts)

Pharmasave Pharmacy, 1311 Gympie Road, Aspley, 3.45pm – 4pm (close contacts)

Wednesday July 14

Chemist Warehouse, Annerley, 8:30am – 8:40am (close contact)

Rowland Financial Services, Maroochydore (times TBC)

See the full list of exposure sites here