No new local Covid cases in Queensland but CHO says more cases imminent

Queensland has reported no new locally acquired coronavirus cases, but authorities warn there may be more to come.

Police talk to passengers from incoming flights from Sydney at Brisbane Domestic Airport as Queensland shuts its borders to NSW. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

Queensland authorities have warned the state will likely see more cases of coronavirus in coming days, despite the state recording no new local cases on Saturday.

One new case was reported in hotel quarantine, with authorities remaining on alert for a potential “sleeper cluster” from NSW.

In the past 24 hours, the state eased restrictions and now has the lowest restrictions in Queensland since the beginning of the pandemic.

Strict new travel restrictions will apply to those wanting to travel from NSW, with the council areas of Waverley, Woollahra, Randwick and the City of Sydney declared as official hot spots.

Queensland chief health officer Jeanette Young said the state had worked had to protect its residents.

“You only need five seconds with an infected person to potentially acquire (the virus) and that’s why we have to ramp up everything,” Dr Young said.

“People have dealt with this now for 18 months and we’ll know what to do going forward.”

Drivers line up for Covid testing at the QML Pathology Central Laboratory in Murarrie in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

States have slammed their borders shut after parts of metropolitan Sydney were plunged into lockdown earlier this week.

Queensland has implemented tough restrictions at the NSW border, with health officials ordering anyone who has been in the affected council areas since June 11 to go into hotel quarantine.

Dr Young said anyone crossing the NSW-Queensland border would need a travel declaration from Monday.

Anyone who has been in the NSW local government areas since June 11 will not be allowed to enter Queensland, unless they are a resident or have an exemption and those allowed to enter will need to go into hotel quarantine.

It comes after the state reported two new locally acquired Covid cases on Friday, linked to a cluster stemming from a leak in hotel quarantine last weekend.

The infections were close contacts related to the Portuguese Family Centre in Ellen Grove in Brisbane's southwest.

Dr Young said she was “expecting to see cases”, but did not elaborate further.

“I cannot commend more what happened the other day with those seven people who were in quarantine at the time they were found to be infectious,” she said.

“If we can find the earliest cases in a cluster, we can have all the people in quarantine so they’re not a threat to anyone, so we really and truly need to find the first case in the cluster.”

The State Government has also faced criticism over its handling of a Covid exemption for a man wanting to see his dying father in the Gold Coast.

Mark Kilian and his wife Anneli Gericke were denied entry to Queensland to visit Mark’s father, Frans, despite the pair being fully vaccinated and returning negative tests.

Mark Kilian and his wife Anneli were not allowed to see Mark's dying father in Queensland until the State Government backflipped on their previous decision. Credit: Change.org

Earlier this week, the State Government backflipped on their refusal and allowed the couple to leave hotel quarantine in Sydney to see Frans in the Gold Coast University Hospital.