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Every COVID-19 update you need to know from this weekend

Spencer Howson
Article image for Every COVID-19 update you need to know from this weekend

Brisbane has been overwhelmed with COVID-19 updates this weekend as positive cases crop up across state borders.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced a raft of restrictions will return from tomorrow, including a mask mandate, after the delta variant was detected in Queensland.

Spencer Howson has spoken to Nine News reporter Reece D’Alessandro, who said Brisbanites are urged to check contact tracing locations after the list exploded this weekend.

Press PLAY below to hear the contact tracing details 

Here’s everything Brisbanites need to know from this weekend:

New cases affecting Queensland

Two new community cases

Brisbane detected a further two community cases this weekend, both recorded in Sunday’s numbers.

Both are believed to be linked to the flight attendant and carrying the Alpha variant, but we are awaiting genome sequencing results.

The first is a worker at DFO, who is also a friend of people who were at the Portuguese restaurant.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young says they were highly active in the community since they became infectious on June 20 .

Their partner, who lives in the same household, also tested positive and has been infectious since June 21.

The partner works on the Sunshine Coast, so contact tracing is no longer confined to Brisbane sites.

FIFO worker tests positive after returning to Queensland

A miner who returned to Queensland after working in the Northern Territory has tested positive to COVID-19.

The miner transited through Brisbane Airport on Friday night and travelled to the Sunshine Coast.

They were infectious in the community for around a day.

Flight attendant tests positive

NSW has informed Queensland Health a flight crew member tested positive after working on five Virgin flights while potentially infectious.

The crew member flew to Brisbane and the Gold Coast on Friday and Saturday.

Because the crew member is based in Sydney, Dr Young says this case is not linked to Brisbane’s flight attendant cluster.

“This is totally separate,” she said.

“I don’t know the genome sequence of the Virgin flight crew member.

“One might think it’s Delta, because they’ve probably acquired it in Sydney, but we don’t know that.”

Everyone who was on the flights will be required to enter a 14-day quarantine.

The flights in question were not close to capacity due to existing restrictions on entry to the state from NSW.

FIFO worker tests positive in the Northern Territory

The NT informed Queensland Health a FIFO worker who flew from Victoria to Brisbane and finally, to the Northern Territory has tested positive to COVID-19.

He stayed on the fifth floor of the Novotel Hotel in Brisbane during his 9-hour layover.

This was the same floor where the flight attendant linked to Brisbane’s Alpha variant cluster acquired the virus.

However, Dr Young says she doesn’t “think this was the same transmission event that caused the other infection there”.

During the investigations into the initial transmission event, everyone who stayed on the floor was required to get tested, which is how the FIFO worker was detected.

Around 700 people who work in the same NT mine as the FIFO worker have now been identified as close contacts and are required to get tested and enter quarantine.

The NT recorded four people tested positive to COVID-19 today as part of the cluster.

This has plunged parts of the territory into a 48-hour snap lockdown, which has the potential to be extended.

Health advice

As we await for Queensland Health to release its revised list of exposure sites, Dr Young has reiterated health advice.

“If you are sick, it is absolutely critical that you come forward, isolate and get tested until you return a negative test for COVID.

“If you’ve been to certain venues, we ask you to get tested, even if you haven’t had any symptoms.

“I ask every single Queenslander when you become eligible for the vaccine, please get it immediately.”

  • Exposure sites will be listed HERE

Reece D’Alessandro told Spencer contact tracing has now expanded beyond Brisbane, with 26 new contact tracing locations from the Glass House Mountains to Warwick.

“There are gyms, there a banks, there are restaurants and cafes, so do jump on those, they are considered close contact locations.”

Revised restrictions for Queensland

While NSW grapples with its outbreak, the lifting of some Queensland restrictions will be walked back.

From 6am Monday, June 28, the following restrictions will apply for 14 days:

  • Venues must return to the one person per two square metres rule
  • Home gatherings will be restricted to 100 people, including children and infants

Anyone in Queensland who has been to the Greater Sydney area, including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong will be required to follow NSW health advice for the next two weeks.

Dr Young has not ruled out closing the border to NSW entirely, so Queenslanders are urged to reconsider their need to be in the state.

This comes as NSW recorded a further 30 cases of COVID-19 on Sunday.

Border restrictions

Western Australia and South Australia have closed their borders to Queensland.

Northern Territory

The NT’s Chief Health Officer has directed any person who has arrived in the territory since June 5, or will arrive, and has been to a Queensland exposure site at the relevant time and date to do as follows:

  • Any person defined as a ‘close contact’ by Queensland health authorities must immediately get tested and undertake 14 days of quarantine in their home or at a suitable place. They must remain in quarantine (unless to get tested) until noon of the 14th day after they were in a Queensland COVID-19 case location, regardless of whether they return a negative COVID-19 test.
  • Any person identified as a ‘casual contact’ by Queensland health authorities must isolate, get a COVID-19 test and remain in self-quarantine until a negative test is returned.
  • Any person who this direction applies to must check the Queensland Health COVID-19 case locations website at least once per day to make sure they comply if a place they have been to becomes a COVID-19 case location.

ACT

If you are a non-ACT resident who has been to a close contact exposure location in Queensland, you must not enter the ACT unless you obtain an exemption before arriving.

If you are already in the ACT and have been to a casual contact exposure location, you must complete a declaration form within 24 hours and isolate at your accommodation until you return a negative COVID-19 test result.

Victoria

Greater Brisbane in Queensland is designated an orange zone under Victoria’s travel permit system.

Travellers from Greater Brisbane must obtain an orange zone permit to enter the state, which requires holders to isolate on entry to the state, get tested within 72 hours and remain isolated until they receive a negative result.

South Australia

Any person travelling from Queensland is not permitted to enter South Australia, unless by exemption.

Exempt travellers include essential workers, returning residents and people relocating to the state.

Western Australia

Travellers must complete a mandatory G2G Pass registration and declaration and a health screening on arrival.

All entrants to the state must quarantine for 14 days.

A negative COVID-19 test must be returned on day 11.

Tasmania

Travellers can enter Tasmania if they have not been to an area of concern in the past 14 days and have completed a border declaration pass.

Anyone who has been in an identified exposure site will not be permitted entry to the state.

 

Image: Getty

Spencer Howson
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