Harshest lockdown conditions just kilometres away from Toowoomba

Less than 15 minutes from our CBD people are locked down in the toughest restrictions since the Covid pandemic began, and dozens of residents are in active quarantine.

ON OUR DOORSTEP: Just minutes from the heart of Toowoomba there are people living in the harshest lockdown restrictions imposed since the beginning of the Covid pandemic as contact tracers work to contain an outbreak of the Delta strain. With all of the Toowoomba region’s eastern neighbouring local government areas in lockdown, experts are warning the Delta outbreak is ‘rapidly escalating’. Picture: NCA NewsWire, Dan Peled

Toowoomba might be out of the lockdown woods for the time being but with Queensland recording nine new Covid-19 cases – its highest daily increase in local Covid cases in almost a year – experts are warning the Delta outbreak is ‘rapidly escalating’.

Just minutes from the heart of Toowoomba there are people living in the harshest lockdown restrictions imposed since the beginning of the Covid pandemic as contact tracers work to contain an outbreak of the Delta strain.

With a total of 11 local government regions in southeast Queensland plunged into a three-day lockdown from 4pm on Saturday including all of the Toowoomba region’s eastern neighbouring local government areas, experts are warning the Delta outbreak is ‘rapidly escalating’.

A Chronicle investigation on Friday revealed almost 50 per cent of Toowoomba shoppers were not using QR check-ins, despite Queensland Health highlighting it as one of the best tools to combat Covid outbreaks.

Of the 512 people spotted entering shops in the CBD between 9.45am and 12.30pm, a total of 210 walked passed QR codes asking them to check-in, a staggering 41 per cent.

According to Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service data, 30 people across the region are in active quarantine.

The new restrictions which extend from the bottom of the Toowoomba range to Brisbane and the Gold and Sunshine Coasts are the strictest Queensland has faced since the virus first entered Australian borders.

Residents in the affected regions’ have to stay within 10km of their homes whenever possible and all adults at schools as well as high school students are required to wear masks.

Queensland’s latest Covid-19 cluster “likely” jumped from a case being managed at the

Sunshine Coast University Hospital chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young has said.

But solid links between two infected returned Australians and a 17-year-old Indooroopilly State High School student and her tutor remain a mystery.

Greater Brisbane’s Delta strain cluster on Sunday increased to a total of 18 cases, after nine new locally acquired cases were detected.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young speaks during a media conference at Parliament House to provide a Covid update, as the state enters its first full day of three-day snap lockdown. Picture: NCA Newswire, Dan Peled

Dr Young said the case numbers were rapidly escalating, warning the Delta variant could spread in “hours, not days”.

“It can transmit within seconds of exposure,” she said.

“If you’re asked to be in quarantine, that means you cannot leave your home except to go and get a test.

Dr Young explained quarantine is different to the rules imposed on the general community and stressed people in quarantine could not leave their homes to exercise.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said more Queenslanders needed to be getting tested for Covid-19.

“This is the most number of new community infections we’ve reported in Queensland in almost 12 months,” Mr Miles said.

Dr Young said she was worried about the virus spreading in schools “because they don’t wear masks” and has since made masks mandatory in secondary schools, and for teachers and staff across the entire school spectrum.

Queensland’s current Covid-19 outbreak is the first time children have become infected in schools in the state.

The lockdown is currently due to end on Tuesday afternoon but may be extended if there are more outbreaks.