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Queenslanders are waking up to new Covid-19 restrictions on Monday after several new local cases were recorded over the weekend.
Health authorities have enforced restrictions on social gatherings and dining numbers fearing the highly infectious Delta Covid-19 variant would devastate the state.
The new rules came into force at 6am on Monday as revelations a miner working in the Northern Territory transited through Brisbane Airport and travelled to the Sunshine Coast.
Authorities are scrambling to contact trace the movements of the miner who was infectious in the community and was added to the two other locally acquired cases reported on Sunday morning.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk revealed the new restrictions on Sunday afternoon to “protect Queenslanders from the highly contagious Delta variant”.
From 6am Monday:
- Pubs, clubs and cafes will revert to the one person per 2sq m rule;
- Private gatherings at homes will be limited to no more than 100 people, including children and infants.
Queenslanders were told by health authorities to get tested if they developed any symptoms of the virus “no matter how mild” due to the miner suspectedly contracting the virus from international travellers while quarantining at the Novotel Airport Brisbane.
The worker left the quarantine facility on a chartered flight to the NT mine.
He then later flew back to Queensland and was infectious in the community in Brisbane on Saturday before heading to the Sunshine Coast, where he tested positive on Sunday afternoon.
The source of the infection has led to fears it was the more concerning variant of Covid-19 with more than 100 people considered close contacts, but it is yet to be confirmed.
Earlier on Sunday, Ms Palaszczuk confirmed one of the new cases was asymptomatic and had been out in the community while infectious.
“We’re going to urge people if you have any symptoms to go and get tested. It is absolutely critical, because we’ve had two cases in the community,” she said.
One was a worker at the DFO shopping centre near Brisbane Airport, the centre of a pre-existing cluster, but they were not believed to have contracted the virus at work.
The state’s chief health officer, Dr Jeanette Young, thanked the worker for coming forward to get tested.
“I don’t think there’s another cluster out there that we don’t know about but I need the genome sequencing,” she said.
Authorities believed the cases were the UK variant, rather than the highly contagious Delta strain spreading through Sydney.
Dr Young warned the two cases had visited “a lot of sites throughout the community” while positive to Covid-19, including several gyms and shopping centres.
“There is a lot happening here, but the straightforward message is, please, if you are sick, it is absolutely critical that you immediately come forward, get tested and isolate till you get a negative result for Covid – that is just critical,” she said.
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