Northern beaches cluster: Queensland Health fume at superyacht infection

A woman who arrived in Qld on a superyacht before a positive virus test has angered police, as nobody on board will say where they’ve been.

Queensland health authorities have slammed the managers of a superyacht who entered Australian waters with an infected crew member on board and refused to reveal vital information about where it had been.

The state’s health minister Yvette D’Ath said those responsible for the crew have been referred to the police while the infected staff member, a woman in her 20s, was placed in quarantine.

“We will leave that for the police to deal with, but we are very disappointed they are not co-operating and providing factual and correct information to the Queensland Police,” she told reporters on Thursday.

Dr Young said the guest passengers on the superyacht had been moved into quarantine, but six crew members remained on the boat to keep it safe.

“We are now testing those six crew and ensuring that none of them have COVID-19,” she said.

“The superyacht originated in the Maldives and then came to Cairns, so we are trying to work through with them how it got onto that yacht.”

Dr Young said the infection should serve as a warning that the virus can survive and thrive among a small crew of people regardless of he time spent at ocean.

Qld authorities are desperately working to ensure nobody else on a superyacht that docked in Cairns is infected with coronavirus, after one passenger tested positive. FILE IMAGE: BRENDAN RADKE

The infection is one of two new cases reported in Queensland on Thursday, with the other being a man who had recently visited the northern beaches.

The man in his 40s, who lives in Queensland’s south east, had been in the Sydney region at the time the deadly pandemic was spreading through the community.

When he returned home to the Sunshine State, he had a test on December 18 which was negative. But he remained in isolation and later returned a positive result after feeling unwell.

“I want to say thank you to that gentleman, he has done everything right since coming back into Queensland,” Ms D’Ath said.

“He has been isolating himself in quarantine at home, which has significantly reduced any risk of spreading this to other people and this is the gold standard of what we expect of anyone who has travelled from the northern beaches.”

Health authorities continue to ask people to come forward for testing. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

The man was not one of the 53 people NSW Health had recommended to their Queensland counterparts as a likely contacts to the cluster, which chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said should serve as a warning for anyone who visited the northern beaches to be proactive with testing and isolation.

“Don’t wait for a text message from NSW that you are a close contact from someone on the northern beaches,” she said.

“If you have been in the northern beaches you have been asked to go into home quarantine up until just recently when (we announced) everyone goes into hotel quarantine, you must absolutely stay in the home quarantine and should not have contact with anyone else, and you should not have visitors to your house.”

Thursday marked 100 days without any locally acquired cases of coronavirus in Queensland.