Greater Brisbane will be entering a three-day lockdown following the discovery of a Queensland hotel quarantine cleaner who tested positive with the UK variant of coronavirus.
“We are going to go early and go hard,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
Ms Palaszczuk made the announcement on Friday, also mandating the wearing of masks in the affected areas if people are leaving home.
It comes after Queensland recorded nine new coronavirus cases.
Ms Palaszczuk outlined the council areas that will be declared Greater Brisbane, which comprise Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich, Moreton, and Redlands.
“From 6:00pm tonight, Friday, to 6:00pm Monday all residents living in those areas will be required to stay at home,” she said.
“We will be mandating masks in those areas if you are leaving home,” said Ms Palaszczuk.
“So, if you are leaving home, you are leaving your place of residence, from 6:00pm Friday to 6:00pm Monday and you will living in those council areas, again, let me say them – Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich, Moreton and Redlands – you must wear a mask.”
Children under 12 do not have to wear a mask.
Greater Brisbane residents have been told they can leave home for four reasons, along the lines of the lockdown undertaken in March.
“They are: to go to essential work – if you can work from home, please do that. It is coming into a weekend, so that is good news,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“You can leave home if you are providing healthcare or support for a vulnerable person you can leave home for essential shopping, but within your local area and the fourth reason is to exercise in your local neighbourhood.
“I know this will be tough on businesses over the next few days but I am thinking about your long-term futures as well.”
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said the situation in Queensland was concerning.
“We do know that we’ve had cases of the UK variant in our hotel quarantine system,” he told ABC RN on Friday.
“And we do know sometimes with a very complex system which relies on humans, mistakes can happen. That apparently is the case here.”
The hotel cleaner’s infection ended almost four months of zero locally acquired cases in Queensland.
She visited several locations while potentially infectious and contact tracers are tracking her movements.
The woman travelled on a train from Altandi station to Roma Street station at 7am on January 2, then returned on the 4pm service the same day.
She also visited Woolworths at the Calamvale Central Shopping Centre from 11am to 12pm on Sunday 3 January.
She was at Coles in Sunnybank Hills for 30 minutes from 7.30am on Tuesday 5 January and a newsagent at Sunnybank Hills Shopping Town from 8am to 8.15am on the same day.
Residents of Algester, Sunnybank Hills and Calamvale who have symptoms of the infection are especially urged to get tested as soon as possible.
-with AAP
