Qld won’t slam Vic border shut but demands travellers test, isolate

Queensland’s chief health officer says she is closely monitoring the situation in Victoria, and while borders won’t slam shut yet, she can’t rule it out.

Dr Jeannett Young said anyone who has been in Melbourne since January 29 needs to get tested and self-isolate immediately. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

Queensland’s chief health officer says she won’t hesitate to slam the state’s border shut to Melbourne if any further cases of community transmission are detected.

Dr Jeannette Young said she was closely monitoring the situation in Victoria, but would not make any border changes just yet.

The southern state has also not been declared a hot spot.

However, anyone in Queensland who has been in Melbourne since January 29 must get tested and self isolate until they test negative.

Dr Young said anyone who had been at any of the contact tracing venues listed by the Victorian health department needed to quarantine at home for 14 days.

Queenslanders have been told to reconsider travel to Greater Melbourne, with health authorities poised to make changes if needed in the next 48 hours.

“If things do deteriorate in Victoria, which I’m very hopeful they won’t, but if they do... they may be caught and have to then quarantine when they return home to Queensland,” Dr Young said.

“Please put them on hold if at all possible. This is not the time to be travelling to Melbourne.”

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said Melbourne was not yet being classified as a hotspot. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Queesnland’s state of alert comes as Melbourne reinstated some COVID-19 restrictions following the infection of a hotel quarantine worker.

The 26-year-old was working at the Grand Hyatt, which is being used to house Australian Open players and officials.

As a result, Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has reinstated gathering restrictions of 15 people, and made masks mandatory inside once more.

Currently Queensland is closed to Western Australia residents in Perth, Peel and South West after a similar hotel quarantine leak sparked a five day lockdown.

Thursday marks 29 days since Queensland had a case of COVID-19 in the community, when a hotel quarantine worker tested positive and sparked a three-day lockdown.

“We can officially declare the Grand Chancellor cluster is now over,” Ms D’Ath said on Thursday.

“We’re very pleased with that … We had no additional positive cases beyond the six that we identified early.”

Queensland recorded no new cases overnight, and only six active cases remain in the state, but Dr Young said authorities are investigating three “cases of interest” in the state.

“These are three individuals who got tested … I think two of the cases are persistent shedding examples,” she said.

“The third … is most likely a false positive but it is really important we work that through.”