Queensland’s historical COVID-19 case attended Byron Bay hen’s party

It should’ve been a weekend of celebrations. Instead, it became a ‘superspreader event’ that triggered a city lockdown.

A woman who attended a hen’s party in Byron Bay has been added to Queensland’s COVID-19 tally.

Chief health officer Jeannette Young said serology revealed that the woman had been infected despite four previous tests returning negative results.

“It’s most likely therefore that because they went to that party at Byron Bay, that’s where they acquired the infection,” Dr Young confirmed on Monday.

Dr Young said the woman posed no risk to anyone else in the community because she went straight into quarantine when her close contact tested positive.

Monday 12 April – coronavirus cases in Queensland:

• 0 new locally acquired
• 1 overseas acquired
• 55 active cases
• 1,504 total cases
• 2,363,449 tests conducted

Sadly, six Queenslanders with COVID-19 have died. 1,381 patients have recovered.#covid19pic.twitter.com/zH1whJ52IB

— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) April 11, 2021

“It just confirms there was a significant superspreader event at that party, which we suspected all along,” she said.

Thirteen people connected to the person at the centre of the Byron Bay outbreak, which was linked to the Princess Alexandra Hospital cases that sent Greater Brisbane into a snap lockdown, have since tested positive to COVID-19.

“The vast majority of people attended the party,” Dr Young said, adding others were housemates of attendees.

Additional restrictions remain in place across Greater Brisbane until Thursday.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said while things were looking good for those to be eased, there was no chance it would happen earlier.