Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk puts her mask on at a press conference about Covid in Brisbane. Photo / NCA Newswire
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk puts her mask on at a press conference about Covid in Brisbane. Photo / NCA Newswire
The unvaccinated woman at the centre of Queensland's latest Covid-19 scare travelled around the state for 10 days with the highly infectious Delta variant.
Fears of infections from the 19-year-old hospital worker who travelled to Townsville from Brisbane have prompted authorities to place large parts of the state into a three-day lockdown.
Overnight confirmation of the strain — which is the variant that has sent Sydney into lockdown and infected millions around the world — has placed contact tracers in the Sunshine State in a race against time.
As many Queenslanders wake up to their first day in lockdown, authorities are desperately trying to hunt down everybody the woman came into contact with on her trip.
The exposure sites list in the state ballooned overnight alongside the announcement — with new alerts for flights, supermarkets and restaurants across Queensland.
The wide geographical spread of the exposure sites poses an additional challenge as the Brisbane woman travelled around the city before going on a family holiday to Townsville and Magnetic Island. Two of the woman's family members and a close friend have also fallen ill.
Even before last night's news that the woman had the Delta variant, the state's Premier was fuming.
Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was "absolutely furious" about the situation.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk puts her mask on at a press conference about Covid in Brisbane. Photo / NCA Newswire
She said the woman developed symptoms last Monday, but did not come forward for testing for another week. She worked two shifts at the Prince Charles Hospital and holidayed while infectious.
Palaszczuk said she had no choice but to impose the lockdown because of the fast-moving situation.
"The risk is real and we need to act quickly," she said yesterday. "We need to go hard and we need to go fast.
"This is absolutely essential and we want to make sure that we stop the virus in its tracks. This is really important that everyone does the right thing. I know Queenslanders will. These are tough decisions."
Southeast Queensland, Townsville City and Palm and Magnetic Island regions will go into a three-day lockdown from 6pm tonight until Friday.
Chief health officer Jeannette Young said the woman's time in the community posed a "significant risk" although she did not know at the time if the woman had the highly contagious Delta strain.
She urged every single person on Magnetic Island – about 2000 people – to urgently get tested regardless if they have symptoms.
The woman went to Sandgate Woolworths on Sunday and then the Bay Health Gym.
She worked at the Prince Charles Hospital on Tuesday and Wednesday before flying to Townsville on flight VA369 from Brisbane on Thursday.
She spent one hour at Brewery Cafe at the airport before going to Magnetic Island.
Dr Jeannette Young said the authorities were concerned about the prospect of the Delta strain in the community. Photo / NCA Newswire
The woman travelled back from the island to Townsville on Sunday and went to the markets before flying on VA374 on Sunday to Brisbane.
One of the new cases revealed yesterday was linked to the mine cluster from the Northern Territory, and the other was described by the Premier as a new community acquired case.
"I can't be definitive about how they got it," Palaszczuk said.
She said she was concerned by the multiple sources of infections threatening the state — the mine cluster, five Virgin flights with an infected flight attendant onboard and the Portuguese restaurant outbreak.
"Then I have this fourth case that may be linked to that case through the Portuguese restaurant cluster, or it may be linked to one of those overseas travellers that's been admitted to the Prince Charles Hospital, or it could be another link that I have to work through," the Premier said.
Queensland has become the fourth jurisdiction to be plunged into lockdown after Western Australia, Northern Territory and NSW.
