Covid Qld: State braced for more Delta cases as millions in southeast locked down

Queensland has recorded nine new Covid-19 cases – one of them an external contractor working on the Rookwood Weir project west of Rockhampton who travelled there for three days.

Construction of the Rookwood Weir, southwest of Rockhampton, has stopped and workers have been isolated to their rooms for 14 days after an external contractor tested positive to the Covid-19 virus.

The Brisbane woman is part of the 18-person Delta variant cluster that has triggered southeast Queensland’s fourth lockdown this year.

She was one of nine new cases identified on Saturday.

The woman travelled from Brisbane to Rockhampton on Qantas Flight 2362 at 8.30am on July 28 and returned at 6.40pm on July 30, flying QA2365.

She tested positive to the pandemic virus on July 31.

Health authorities believe she was infectious from July 28 when she was working at the weir.

Rookwood Weir workers who had already left the site before the woman was identified as a Covid case have been contacted and told to isolate for 14 days.

Queensland Health is also contacting everyone who travelled on the same aircraft as the Covid-positive case.

Testing clinic hours at Rockhampton’s Central Queensland University fever clinic have been extended.

Thousands of people lined up to be Covid tested in Brisbane after a three day snap lock down was called. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

The news follows confirmation from chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young that Queensland’s latest cluster “likely” jumped from a case being managed at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital.

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.

Dr Young said the case numbers were rapidly escalating.

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

It is known that the 17-year-old student and her tutor, a medical student, both have the exact same strain of the virus as two Australians returning from overseas, from separate locations via Singapore, and into Brisbane.

The two international arrivals, one from the UK and the other from Indonesia, transited via Singapore before landing in Brisbane on June 29.

Both ultimately tested positive for Covid-19 and were taken to separate hospitals.

Dr Young signalled that one of the men were treated at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital and discharged on July 17.

“I think it’s most likely that it’s gone from the person who was managed up at Sunshine Coast,” she said.

“All the protocols put in place… were thoroughly followed, but we know with Delta, that it can be more infectious, so we’re just looking whether that has led to the transmission.

“This is why I’m asking that anyone in the Sunshine Coast, who is unwell with any symptoms at all to immediately come forward.”

Brisbane Grammar School is one of the latest exposure sites. Photo Steve Pohlner

Dr Young said the infected medical student had “some contact” inside the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

“That is an exposure site that we’re looking at the moment,” she said.

Dr Young said the medical student had not been vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus. She said healthcare students were struggling to get vaccinated.

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

“It’s particularly important on the Sunshine Coast, where the Chief Health Officer is concerned there may be missing links to clusters,” Mr Miles said.

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

Four of Queensland’s new cases are linked to a karate class held at Ironside State School.

Five schools have been caught up in the cluster, they are: Indooroopilly State High school, Ironside state school, Brisbane Grammar School, St Peter’s Lutheran College and Brisbane Girls Grammar.

Dr Young said she was worried about the virus spreading in schools “because they don’t wear masks”.

But she has made masks mandatory in secondary schools, and for teachers and staff across the entire school spectrum, including primary schools.

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

There are different arrangements for the five schools depending on the risk. Some will only need the children who attend the school to quarantine, while others will require the entire household to be in quarantine.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said she would write to the Clerk of Parliament today to pose a change to the state’s Estimates Hearings.

“We will be rescheduling those three days of hearings to the following week,” Ms D’Ath said.

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles. Picture: Richard Walker

Dr Young clarified that if you were in quarantine you can not leave your home unless it is to get tested.

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

“Other than that there are very, very limited reasons you can leave your home because you are very, very high risk.”

Quarantine is different to the rules imposed on the general community, she said and stressed people in quarantine could not leave their homes to exercise.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said the Delta variant could spread in “hours, not days”.

She said NSW was recording, on average, one death every three days from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

Dr Young said she was allowing NRL games to go ahead with minimum support staff and without spectators.

She said she was grateful to the Ekka for delaying setting up at the Showgrounds, given the lockdown.

Dr Young said she sympathised with businesses affected by the lockdown.

She said South Bank Rydges had decided to pull out of being a quarantine hotel.

“We will have to move guests to another hotel,” Dr Young said.

Vaccinating children aged 12 to 15 is not a priority Dr Young has said, because modelling suggests jabbing the cohort “doesn’t give you a lot more protection” from the spread of the virus.

Dr Young said eventually younger students down to age 12 would be vaccinated but at this stage “it’s more important to vaccinate older people”.

Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said there were 28 penalty and infringement notices handed out and four arrests for people flouting the lockdown rules.

Mr Gollschewski said two people at the borders attempted to enter Queensland when they shouldn’t.

“We did have some protest activity yesterday, it was minor,” he said.

“Now is not the time to protest. We will take a very strict stance on that if anyone chooses to do so.”

Mr Gollschewski said police had intelligence that protests may be happening tomorrow.

Mr Miles said Queensland had 53 active cases of the virus.

He said thousands of Queenslanders were subject to home quarantine directions.

A Brisbane infectious diseases expert on Sunday morning said it is unlikely the snap lockdown will be lifted in just three days, with more Covid transmission among schools emerging as a concern overnight.

Mr Miles said people in the 11 local government areas affected by the lockdown would be eligible for financial assistance.

The lockdown is currently due to end on Tuesday afternoon but may be extended.

“I would think, with the number of additional cases overnight, the additional schools, that the chance of this ending after three days is fairly low,” Paul Griffin, Director of Infectious Diseases as Brisbane’s Mater Hospital, has told the ABC.

“But, of course, we need everyone to do the right thing so that we can get on top of it as quickly as possible and be out of lockdown as soon as it’s appropriate.”

If you have any symptoms of COVID-19 regardless of how mild - come forward and get tested.

Now is not the time to hesitate.

— Yvette D'Ath MP (@YvetteDAth) July 31, 2021

It comes as two more prominent Brisbane high schools were caught up in Queensland’s latest Covid-19 outbreak just hours after the lockdown began.

Thousands are now in isolation, millions in lockdown, schools have been closed and several of Brisbane’s biggest hospitals on high alert after the six new local cases of the Delta strain of the virus announced on Saturday morning.

Eleven Queensland Local Government Areas – City of Brisbane, Moreton Bay Regional Council, City of Gold Coast, City of Ipswich, Lockyer Valley Regional Council, Logan City, Noosa Shire Council, Redland City, Scenic Rim Regional Council, Somerset Regional Council and Sunshine Coast Regional Council – with an estimated population of 3,288,000, have now gone into a three-day lockdown, after six new local cases of Covid-19 – all the highly infectious Delta strain – were recorded.

The Chief Health Officer on Saturday mapped out how she believes the Delta strain spread throughout southeast Queensland, leading to the lockdown.

Dr Jeannette Young revealed that seven people who tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday are part of a cluster that stemmed from two overseas travellers who arrived in Brisbane on June 29.

Originally published as Covid Qld: State braced for more Delta cases as millions in southeast locked down