COVID-19 UPDATE: New cases, call to get tested

There have been 10 new cases in the past 24 hours, eight of these are the result of community transmission, as the number of venues and businesses listed as potential exposure sites continues to grow.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says six are close contacts of confirmed cases and two are under investigation.

This takes the number of active cases in hospital to 78, up from five on February 20.

Ms Palaszczuk says Queensland Health has identified two clusters - one linked to the PA doctor and the other linked to a nurse who worked at the PA hospital.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young says five of the new cases are linked to the second cluster and attended a hen's party together at Bryon Bay.

Investigations are continuing into another case to determine which cluster it is linked to.

She believes two other cases are linked to the first cluster, but this is to be confirmed.

All are the B117 (or UK) variant.

Dr Young says the nurse most likely became infected during a shift at the PA hospital on March 23. It is not known how she contracted it, as she was not in direct contact with COVID-19 patients.

The doctor became infected from another source at the same hospital on March 12.

Dr Young says as of tomorrow, only staff who have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will be allowed to work directly with patients who have a confirmed case of the virus.

Who has been vaccinated?

So far, 41,000 frontline health workers and those working in hotel quarantine have been vaccinated (80 per cent).

Queensland Health Minister and State Member for Redcliffe Yvette D'Ath says 6004 people were vaccinated across the state yesterday, taking the overall total to 65,129. More than 20,000 have been vaccinated in the past week.

She says the high numbers of vaccines administered made it possible to issue a mandate that only vaccinated staff work with COVID-19 positive cases from tomorrow.

"I'm grateful to all of the staff who have made that possible in the vaccination centres," Mrs D'Ath says.

What's happened so far

Many new sites were listed yesterday afternoon, including the Redcliffe Peninsula train line, Bunnings at Rothwell, Woolworths at Kippa-Ring, IGA Redcliffe and Liquorland at Dolphins Central shopping centre. Others across South East Queensland and in Gladstone were also added to the list. To view the growing list, head here

Greater Brisbane, the Moreton Bay Region, Logan, Ipswich and Redlands started a three-day lockdown from 5pm yesterday as Queensland Health discovers more cases of community transmission of COVID-19. The lockdown is due to end at 5pm on Thursday, but this will be reviewed tomorrow.

It followed news of four more cases of community transmission in the previous 24 hours after three cases were identified late last week.

People in the five council areas now in lockdown can only leave home for four reasons: food, exercise, essential work and medical.

Everyone must wear masks when indoors, except at home or if they have a medical exemption, or it's unsafe to wear one in their workplace. 

Schools are closed, but open to children of essential workers. Childcare centres are also open to essential workers.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said it was big call with Easter just around the corner, but the high level of community transmission and the large number of potential exposure sites forced her hand.

Contact tracers are working hard to determine which venues have been affected. The lockdown will give them time to get on top of the number of exposure sites and hopefully reduce the amount of community transmission.

"This is necessary. It is the UK strain and is highly infectious. It is a protective measure and the right thing to do. It is based on the health advice,” she says.

"We don't take this measure lightly. These are very difficult decisions and needed to keep Queenslanders safe and to stop the spread of this UK variant."

High-risk venues

Anyone who visited the following venues at the times specified must quarantine at home for 14 days.

They must also complete the contact tracing self-assessment if they have not already been contacted by Queensland Health.

And they must stay quarantined even if they get a negative test until the 14 days have passed. It can take 14 days before a patient shows symptoms or tests positive.

The venues are:

Council venues closed

Mayor Peter Flannery says Council has cancelled all scheduled events and activities through to close of business Thursday.

“MBRIT has had to make the hard decision to cancel the hugely popular Festival of Sails event this weekend, so I apologise to everyone who’d been looking forward to that,” Mayor Flannery said.

“Three days of inconvenience could save us weeks or months of further lockdowns.

“The Premier has said there’s no need to panic buy - supermarkets are well stocked and will remain open, you just need to wear a face mask if you leave your home.”

Head here for the list of affected venues and service centres.

Drive-through testing clinic is open

A pop-up drive-through testing clinic is open at South Pine Sports Complex. People are being asked to remain in their vehicles. Medical staff from Sullivan Nicholaides Pathology are coming to car windows to conduct tests.

It will be open until 5pm today and will reopen at 9am tomorrow.

For testing, enter via the main entrance, for sport, enter via the back entrance.

For a list of other testing centres across the region, head here

Support local businesses

As greater Brisbane and the Moreton Bay Region settle into the three-day lockdown, hospitality venues offering takeaway are calling for your support.

The industry has been hit particularly hard during previous lockdowns and many will turn to takeaway trade in a bid to serve their customers, employ their staff and keep money coming in.

See the story and list of venues offering takeaway, here

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