Queensland hotel quarantine worker contracts UK strain of Covid prompting aged care lockdown
A Queensland hotel quarantine worker has contracted the highly infectious UK strain of Covid-19, prompting the state’s health authorities to send aged care homes in parts of greater Brisbane into lockdown.
The cleaner, a woman in her 20s, was working at a hotel that contained patients with the strain, which has been found to be more infectious than previous strains.
The positive case sparked a call for testing across Brisbane on Thursday, even as New South Wales and Victoria both recorded zero cases of community transmission in the 24 hours to Wednesday 8pm.
A range of potential exposure sites in Brisbane’s southern suburbs, including two trains and two supermarkets, have now been declared. The woman lives in Algester, in Brisbane’s south, and anyone in Brisbane, especially in the suburbs of Algester, Sunnybank Hills and Calamvale, has been urged to get tested if they develop symptoms.
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The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said the cleaner, a casual worker in her 20s, “did everything right”.
“She developed symptoms yesterday and was tested yesterday,” she said.
Young said the woman worked at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, and had been infectious since 2 January. She said there are four cases of Covid-19 among returned travellers at the hotel.
Alerts have been issued for a train from Altandi station to Roma street at 7am on 2 January, a train from Central Station to Altandi station at 4pm on 2 January, Woolworths Calamvale North 11am-12pm on 3 January, Coles Sunnybank Hills, 7.30am-8am on 5 January, and the Newsagent at Sunnybank Hills Shopping Town, 8am-8.15am on 5 January.
Earlier, both NSW and Victoria recorded no new locally-acquired cases between 8pm Tuesday and 8pm Wednesday, while genomic testing linked the positive case who attended the MCG to Sydney’s northern beaches.
NSW did record one new case in the northern beaches after the 8pm deadline, which will be included in Friday’s numbers.
More than 32,000 tests were conducted in Victoria, and almost 28,000 tests in NSW in the 24 hours to 8pm Wednesday.
In Victoria, health authorities continued to investigate the source of a mystery case, who tested positive after attending the second day of the Boxing Day Test on 27 December and went shopping at Chadstone shopping centre on Boxing Day.
On Thursday, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said genomic testing had confirmed that man’s infection was linked to the northern beaches outbreak in Sydney.
“That is virus that has come from Sydney,” Andrews said. “I can’t pinpoint for you exactly how.”
Andrews said there were between 2,000 and 2,500 people in self-isolation as potential contacts of the man.
Anyone who was in zone five of the MCG’s great southern standbetween 12.30pm and 3.30pm on 27 December must get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result. People who attended a series of stores in the Chadstone shopping centre, listed on the Victorian health department website, also have to be tested and isolate.
In NSW, the New Year’s Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground began on Thursday, with capacity limited to 10,000.
The acting NSW premier, John Barilaro, said new restrictions, including mandatory mask wearing, fines, and a ban on people from certain suburbs attending had “de-risked” the SCG.
The NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, said people would not be required to show their driver’s licence to enter the stadium, as he did not want delays in lines “holding people up” and preventing social distancing.
Barilaro said that similar mask-wearing requirements would also be put in place for upcoming A-League games, including a fixture in Newcastle.
“Those sort of requirements, including the 25% cap, will apply to those games,” he said.
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“We want to ensure we put on sporting events across the state that are safe to the public, but we also know these events are important to the economy and we believe we can do it in the best Covid way”.
Spectators at the Sydney Test must wear a mask at all times except when eating or drinking, or face a $1,000 fine.
Residents of the suburbs of Wentworthville, Belmore, Auburn, Berala, Lidcombe North, Regents Park and Rookwood are banned from attending the Test, as is anyone who was in the affected stand of the MCG on 27 December.
New venues were also added to the list of potential exposure sites in Wentworthville in western Sydney, and Huskisson and Kangaroo Valley on the south coast.
The Wentworthville BWS, Domino’s Pizza, Woolworths, Green Farm Meat NSW Halal, Udaya Supermarket, Ambeys Big Apple, Sri Lakshmi Supermarket, Pizza Hut and Swagath Biryani House were all added to the list of venues.
NSW Health has also opened up new a testing site in Wentworthville at 69 Veron Street, behind the Wentworthville Community Centre.
In Queensland, Palaszczuk also confirmed that entry to residents of greater Sydney will remain barred until at least the end of January.
Young also said it was still too early to say whether the Brisbane cricket test should have its capacity limited or called off.
