Greater Brisbane has been ordered into a snap three-day lockdown after four more coronavirus cases emerged in the community.
The rest of Queensland has also be asked to wear face masks indoors when it’s not possible to do social distancing, and will have to abide some gathering restrictions.
The lockdown comes after the Premier warned that there was more community transmission of the virus.
Three of the new cases are close contacts of existing or historical cases, but the infected persons have been out in the community raising the risk more transmission may have occurred.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Brisbane, Logan, Moreton Bay, Ipswich and Redlands would go into a three-day lockdown from 5pm on Monday.
“There is now more community transmission, and these people have been out and about in the community, and that is of concern to Queensland Health,” she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said the lockdown would last for three days at least, ahead of the Easter holiday break this weekend.
People will only be allowed to leave home to do essential work, shop, care for people or exercise.
“This will also enable our health authorities to get on top of the contact tracing,” she said.
“This is a huge job now that we have to do because we’ve got more of this community transmission.”
“I know this will mean some disruption to people’s lives, but we’ve done this before, and we’ve got through it over those three days in the past, and if everyone does the right thing I’m sure that we will be able to get through it again.”
One of the cases had travelled to Gladstone. Anyone who has been in Brisbane since March 20 will also come under the restrictions.
Lockdown rules
The rules of Greater Brisbane’s snap three-day lockdown will be the same as January’s lockdown, with just four valid reasons to leave home.
Residents will be allowed to undertake essential work, buy essential supplies such as food and medicine, look after vulnerable people and exercise with members of their household or one other person.
A maximum of two visitors are allowed in people’s homes.
Masks will be mandatory from 5pm on Monday, aside from those with a medical exemption, and schools will be closed except to the children of essential workers.
Anyone who has been in the Greater Brisbane area since March 20 is subject to the same restrictions regardless of where they live.
The rest of Queensland is also subject to new restrictions given the opportunity for the virus to spread since the new cases have been infectious in the community.
Gatherings in people’s homes will be limited to 30 people, dining and drinking will be sit-down only, and visitation will be cut at aged care facilities, hospitals and prisons.
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young also asked those outside Greater Brisbane to wear a mask when they’re inside a public venue and physical distancing isn’t possible.
There is not a requirement to wear a mask when outside for people outside Greater Brisbane.
“For the rest of the state outside the five local government areas that make up Greater Brisbane I am asking that you wear a mask when you can’t physically distance, when you are inside and in public transport,” said Dr Jeannette Young.
“They are the important risk areas. So if people could all, please, get out those masks that I know you have. There is not a requirement to wear a mask outside, particularly in you can socially distance.”
Greater Brisbane has been declared a hotspot, and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has advised other states and territories to do the same.
Anyone with symptoms is urged to get tested. For information visit www.qld.gov.au or call 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84).
EARLIER
There has been one new historical COVID-19 infection recorded in Queensland, as fresh information discounts reports linking an existing case to a party for up to 25 people.
Sunday’s reported community case is the brother of one of the state’s current cases, who is no longer infectious and believed to be a ‘missing link’ between the most recent cluster and a doctor who tested positive earlier this month.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said reports one of the cases had thrown a party for up to 25 guests were incorrect.
“We were told at the time there were 25 people that attended the residence; we needed to investigate, track those 25 people down and get them into quarantine,” she said.
Further investigations by police and health authorities suggest the people who attended were limited to the man’s housemates and one other person.
Ms D’Ath said officials acted on what they understood to be true at the time and told reporters she became aware of the new information on Sunday morning.
“It is extremely unfortunate that what has been discovered over the last 24 hours, that it wasn’t 25 people, but as I understand it this is the information that was received from this gentleman himself,” she said.
“Whether the health officials misunderstood what he said, I wasn’t there, I didn’t hear the conversation, but this is the information that they believe that he had provided them at the time.”
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the state’s two active cases were both in hospital and while it was too early to relax, she was pleased testing efforts had not uncovered further examples of community transmission.
She said it was “most likely” the historical case was one of the missing links between a doctor infected with COVID-19 and the most recent cluster.
“We won’t be able to do genome sequencing on him because he doesn’t have any active virus at the moment but we will continue to test him to see if we can work out what has happened.”
As well as the historical case, Queensland recorded two new cases in hotel quarantine.
A Strathpine man in his 20s tested positive on Friday night after contracting the UK strain of COVID-19 from his male friend in Stafford.
The man visited at least 15 venues in Strathpine, Lawnton, Eatons Hill and East Brisbane while he was infectious.
Together with other sites visited by the Stafford man, there are now 25 potential COVID-19 exposure sites across Brisbane.
The nine exposure sites visited by the Stafford man include Westfield Carindale, Bunnings in Stafford and Gasworks at Newstead.
Contact tracers have homed in on the Carindale Westfield and Mama’s Italian restaurant in Redcliffe, where the 26-year-old spent the most time and potentially interacted with the most people.
He visited the shopping centre between 12pm and 2.16pm last Saturday and the restaurant between 12.30pm and 3.10pm on Sunday.
The Strathpine man’s visit to the Eatons Hill Hotel between 3.45pm and 5.10pm last Saturday is also a concern.
Anyone who has visited those sites is being urged to get tested and isolate until they receive their results.
The cluster has sparked a lockdown of Brisbane City and Moreton Bay council area hospitals, aged care facilities, prisons and disability services providers.
