Queensland health workers have undertaken a first-of-its kind randomised survey of households during the COVID-19 peak on the Gold Coast.

Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard explained health workers door knocked random addresses.

Of the 117 households visited on 22 January, 20 people came back positive and only 4 of them reported having any symptoms.

He said it showed a significant number had no symptoms.

“Four out of 5 had no symptoms, 9 out of 10 were unaware they were positive, so this is quite extraordinary.”

Tests were then repeated 7 days later, when 143 households were tested and 11 tested positive, with 6 having symptoms.

“It indicates the pandemic peak has passed here on the Gold Coast but also a lot of people that have been infected had no idea they had been infected.”

The data will help inform future work to understand the spread.

“At this stage we still don’t know exactly the total number of people on the Gold Coast and in Queensland that have been infected with the virus, but it’s likely to be at least a third of the population of Queensland by the end of the month … but there will be further work done on this.”

He said they were still planning on further waves of COVID-19, especially during winter.

Meantime, 8,643 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in Queensland, and 9 deaths, 4 in aged care.

Image: Nine News