The cluster that sent southeast Queensland into an eight-day lockdown appears to be in hand with three new cases of COVID-19 recorded on Tuesday.
They have been linked to the Indooroopilly cluster centred on schools north of the Brisbane River, but all three cases were isolating for the entirety of their infectious periods.
But there are ongoing concerns for locked-down Cairns and Yarrabah, in the state’s far north, despite no new cases there.
It turns out a Cairns marine pilot who gave the Delta variant to a local taxi driver was actually infectious before the date identified by authorities.
Contact tracers now have to go back to at least July 26, and possibly further, to ensure they’ve found everyone the marine pilot had contact with. July 26 was the day the taxi driver caught the virus while driving the marine pilot to Cairns Airport.
All eyes will be on testing results out of Cairns and Yarrabah on Wednesday morning, with the three-day lockdown in those communities scheduled to lift at 4pm.
Meanwhile, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has warned Queenslanders not to travel south of the border with much of northern NSW in lockdown after a positive case travelled to Byron Bay from Sydney.
“We do not want to see mass movement happening there,” the premier said while flagging an increased police presence at the border.
The Byron Bay case has been deemed to have been infectious in the community since July 31. Anyone now in Queensland who was in those northern NSW communities must also abide by the lockdown.
“Anyone who has been in those four LGAs, and they’ve gone anywhere else, out of those four LGAs is, whether in NSW or in Queensland or indeed anywhere else, now needs to stay at home,” Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said.
People subject to the NSW lockdown can only leave home for essential work, shopping, health care and exercise.
There was some good news for hospitality and tourism operators on Tuesday, with the Palaszczuk government promising an extra $70 million for those hit by lockdowns.
It will cover a range of initiatives including payroll tax referrals, refunding fees and charges for affected businesses and waiving or reducing liquor licensing fees.
Meanwhile, the premier had again denied using secretive polling to ensure she was making pandemic decisions that would be popular with voters.
New documents obtained under right to information have shed more light on a $528,000 contract the premier’s department signed with a market researcher to gauge the views of Queenslanders about pandemic-related issues.
Queenslanders were asked about the merits of border closures to deal with COVID-19, what things should trigger an easing of restrictions, and even what advice they had for leaders managing the pandemic.
The premier is refusing to release the research but says it was produced to inform advertising campaigns, and she did not rely on it to make popular decisions.
She said the health advice provided by Dr Young informed her pandemic rulings.
But the opposition scoffed at that, with finance spokesman Jarrod Bleijie saying she must release the research and Dr Young’s health advice so voters can make up their own minds.
The three new cases announced on Tuesday were a student at Brisbane Boys Grammar who tested positive on day eight of quarantine, a student at Ironside State School who tested positive on day seven, and a household contact who tested positive on day nine.
Across the state, more than 13,000 people are currently in home quarantine.
AAP
