Police hold off Queensland border hopper interviews

A Covid-positive couple who fled Melbourne’s lockdown for Qld won’t be interviewed by police until they are no longer infectious.

Brisbane resident Natalie Tomlin receives the Pfizer jab at a vaccination hub at the Doomben Racecourse. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

A Covid-positive couple who fled Melbourne’s lockdown for Queensland will not be interviewed by police until they are no longer infectious, as the state dodges another lockdown for now.

A 44-year-old woman and her husband triggered public health alerts in NSW and Queensland when they tested positive to the virus after mingling in the community while contagious. The couple, who did not have an exemption to enter Queensland and who are co-­operating with authorities, remain in isolation at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital.

They crossed into the state through Goondiwindi on June 5, but travel from Victoria to Queensland was banned on May 28. Goondiwindi mayor Lawrence Springborg said he was concerned about “what appears to be a flagrant breach of Covid Hotspot protocols and unauthorised access to Queensland”.

Police will not interview the couple until health authorities are confident they are not infectious. However, Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young said the pair were “towards the end of their illness” so the risk of them infecting others was not as high as when they travelled through Victoria and NSW.

Seventeen of the couple’s close contacts have been tested and three of those have returned negative results so far, including the woman’s parents.

Queensland health authorities will not lock down hospitals or aged care facilities, but Dr Young said she wanted testing rates to increase so she could be confident there was no community spread.