Thousands of quarantined Queensland travellers free to go, hundreds more quarantined

Thousands of travellers who arrived in Tasmania from the Greater Brisbane area have been told they can leave isolation after the Queensland capital ended its own coronavirus lockdown. LATEST >>

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THOUSANDS of travellers who arrived in Tasmania from the Greater Brisbane area have been told they can leave isolation after the Queensland capital ended its own coronavirus lockdown.

Visitors from the Greater Brisbane area who arrived before 9am on Friday, January 8 are now free to travel about Tasmania as health authorities believe they pose little risk of having the virus.

But those who arrived from greater Brisbane after that time have been asked to remain in isolation for at least another 48 hours.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk moved quickly to lock Brisbane down last week after a quarantine hotel cleaner contracted the fast-moving mutant UK strain of COVID-19.

During the lockdown there were no locally acquired cases of coronavirus and the lockdown was lifted at 6pm on Monday.

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Those who arrived on Friday are required to remain in isolation in government-provided hotel accommodation will not have to pay for due to the swift nature of the decision, according to Health Minister Sarah Courtney.

“It is good news today Queensland has again not had any positive cases for the third day in a row with high testing levels retained,” she said.

“We’re advised that around two-thirds of those close contacts have tested negative and we’re expecting the remaining results soon.

“We’re also advised those people that arrived in Tasmania on Friday the 8th prior to 9am do not pose a risk, this is because they have not been identified as a close contact of the case.”

Those who arrived after 9am, Friday, January 8 will have to remain in quarantine or isolation.

Director of Public Health Dr Mark Veitch. Picture Chris Kidd

Director of Public Health Dr Mark Veitch said there has been no contact tracing that indicates there is anyone in the state who was in an affected area.

“The evidence so far from that testing in Brisbane and the identification of the contacts that Queensland Health was able to do over the last few days gives us great confidence … (an infected person) has not come to Tasmania,” he said.

Dr Veitch said Public Health will continue to take a “cautious” approach, requiring the remaining travellers from Brisbane to remain in quarantine due to the slight change they may have been exposed to COVID-19.

“There are a couple of thousand people who would have come to Tasmania from Greater Brisbane last week, but before the Friday (January 8) at 9am, and it’s those couple of thousand we can assure they don’t have to isolate,” he said.

Currently there are 600 people in home quarantine from Greater Brisbane and 106 people in hotel quarantine from high-risk parts of Brisbane and Sydney.

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