Brisbane residents find out at 9am this morning the latest update on lockdown
Queensland Premier, Chief Health Officer wouldn t say Sunday if it will lift
Three new NSW cases went out while infectious - missed by contact tracers
Health alerts for a string of six shops at Bankstown Central Shopping Centre
Border spats continue with NSW, Victoria trading barbs over sudden lockdowns
96 travellers who came to Melbourne from Greater Brisbane on Saturday in accidental breach of snap travel ban, have gone into home quarantine
Mutant UK COVID strain sends Brisbane into lockdown macrobusiness.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from macrobusiness.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The lockdown was announced by Queensland’s Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk after a hotel quarantine cleaner was found to have contracted the more virulent UK coronavirus variant. Palaszczuk said Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young advised her that a three-day lockdown could prevent a 30-day lockdown. Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, Redlands and Logan were all included in the lockdown. The worker, a cleaner who lives in the south Brisbane suburb of Algester, may have been infectious since January 2. There were five cases of the UK strain in the quarantine hotel she worked at. Air New Zealand operates five return flights per week between Auckland and Brisbane. As of Wednesday three of those services were quarantine-free flights, while the remaining two would be quarantine flights.
Brisbane Goes Into Three Day Lockdown
Brisbane is going into a strict lockdown for three days over the weekend as health authorities race to track down everyone who came into contact a confirmed case of the highly-infectious UK strain of the CCP virus, which causes the COVID-19 disease.
Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the government learned at 4 p.m. on Thursday that a cleaner who worked at the quarantine Hotel Grand Chancellor and tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, has contacted the more infectious UK strain.
“We need to find every single case now, every person who might have had contact with that lady now,” Young said. “Find them and get them into quarantine.”
Queensland stays put on border ban as deadline looms for other states
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Queensland authorities remained tight-lipped on Friday over any further changes to border restrictions, while the state reported no new COVID-19 cases, and Victorians rushing to get back across the NSW border endured lengthy delays.
A spike in demand from skittish Queensland-bound travellers also led one domestic airline to add a last-minute flight between Melbourne and Brisbane, amid calls for people to be given enough notice of any hotspot expansions.
While the Queensland-Victoria border remains open, enough people making last-minute bookings led Qantas to schedule an extra flight at 5.35pm on Friday.