Urgent covid warning for thousands of residents in 12 suburbs after virus traces are found in wastewater – here are the affected areas
- Urgent alert after Covid detected in wastewater samples on the Gold Coast
- Elanora plant treats water from 12 suburbs near Gold Coast-NSW border
- Queensland’s chief health officer urged people with symptoms get get tested
A new Covid scare is unfolding with traces of the virus detected in sewage.
Queensland Health reported the finding on Friday afternoon based on samples from the Elanora treatment plant, on the Gold Coast – and urged people with symptoms -‘no matter how mild’ – to get tested.
The list of symptoms includes, ‘fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue, diarrhoea, nausea or vomiting, and loss of taste or smell’.
‘It is very important people with symptoms come forward right away and get tested – we can’t be complacent, we’re still in this pandemic,’ said Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young.
Burleigh, one of the suburbs in the Elanora catchment, where traces of Covid were detected in wastewater on Friday afternoon
Anyone with even mild symptoms on the Gold Coast has been urged to get tested after fragments of the virus were detected at the Elanora treatment plant
The urgency is driven by concerns over the emergence of highly contagious new variants of the virus which recently emerged overseas and have reached Australia.
‘It is critical we detect any cases that we may not be aware of as quickly as possible through our testing system, to contain any potential spread,’ Dr Young said.
‘It is very important people with symptoms come forward right away and get tested – we can’t be complacent, we’re still in this pandemic.’
The treatment plant receives samples from 12 Gold Coast suburbs close to the Queensland-New South Wales border.
Those are: Bilinga, Burleigh Heads, Burleigh Waters, Coolangatta, Currumbin, Currumbin Waters, Elanora, Miami, Palm Beach, Tallebudgera, Tallebudgera Valley and Tugun.
Queensland Health previously said that the new, more contagious strains of the virus were detected in the hotel quarantine system in January.
Covid traces in wastewater do not necessarily guarantee outbreaks.
‘It’s also possible that this detection relates to previous COVID-19 cases that can shed viral fragments for a couple of months after they are no longer infectious,’ Dr Young said.