‘Not comfortable’: Fears as Queensland records another local infection

Queensland has resisted locking down the state’s southeast despite health authorities grappling yet another cluster.

The Queensland government has resisted ordering the state’s southeast into lockdown despite new Covid-19 cases placing the Gold Coast on high alert.

A new local infection has emerged in a man from Biggera Waters but Queensland Health is also scrambling to trace a truck driver who tested positive in NSW who was infectious in Queensland for three days.

Chief health officer Jeannette Young warned residents on the Gold Coast that the area was placed under “increased risk” with the driver infectious at a number of venues between September 25 and 27.

The other infection, which was listed as a Queensland case, was a man in his 50s who lives on the Gold Coast but was linked to the worker from the aviation training centre reported earlier.

It now appears Queensland is grappling three active clusters but Dr Young resisted the urge to advise the Queensland Government to order a lockdown.

Dr Young said the Covid-19 threat has increased. Picture: NCA Newswire /Gaye Gerard

“I can‘t say I’m comfortable,” the top doctor told reporters on Wednesday morning, visibly concerned by the increased threat to the state.

“I’m watching this very, very carefully and I'm just asking, because Queenslanders have done such a fantastic job with our last few outbreaks with wearing masks, with coming forward and getting tested.

“I’m prepared to wait and see if we’ve got any local transmission. At the moment, all of these cases are linked. We know exactly how they’ve got them.”

Dr Young said the man visited a number of suburbs on the Gold Coast, including Mermaid Waters, Merrimac, Nerang, Surfers Paradise, Miami Beach and Currumbin.

Another infected truck driver, reported on Tuesday, was of concern also given he was infectious in the community for eight days from September 19 in highly populated areas in central Brisbane.

Originally published as ‘Not comfortable’: Fears as Queensland records another local infection