Urgent alert for thousands of Australians as Covid fragments are found in sewage from 27 suburbs
Health officials in Queensland have detected fragments of coronavirus in sewage from catchments in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.
While one of the 27 suburbs affected is Caloundra, where a couple from Victoria tested positive last week, many other suburbs with no known cases are also on alert.
Sewage testing by Queensland Health revealed on Monday that four suburbs in Brisbane recorded traces of the virus, along with 23 neighborhoods on the Sunshine Coast.
Health officials in Queensland have detected fragments of coronavirus in sewage from catchments in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast
Pictured: A women is seen taking a COVID test at the Murarrie COVID Testing Clinic on March 30, 2021 in Brisbane
Weekly sewage testing is carried out in the state as a way to monitor potential outbreaks.
Brisbane’s Fairfield catchment which covers the Annerley, Fairfield, Yeerongpilly and Yeronga areas, was found to have Covid-19 fragments.
The Kawana catchment on the Sunshine Coast, which feeds into suburbs like Aroona, Buddina, Golden Beach, Little Mountain, Meridan Plains, Pelican Waters and Shelly Beach, also recorded traces of the virus.
Queensland Health said residents living in the affected areas are urged to monitor their symptoms and immediately get tested if they feel unwell.
A shock Covid-19 case has been detected on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast (Noosa pictured) after a couple travelled from locked down Victoria, one infected with coronavirus
The woman was potentially infectious at Stockland Caloundra Shopping Centre (above) – Coffee Club and Kmart stores between 10.45 – 11.30am on June 7
The concerning results come after a woman and her husband who left Melbourne while it was in lockdown and went on a road trip through three states has tested positive for coronavirus in Queensland.
Several regional centres in NSW and Queensland were placed on alert after her initial positive case was confirmed June 9.
She and her husband left an unidentified suburb on the edge of greater Melbourne on June 1, while the Victorian capital was in lockdown to control community transmission of the virus.
They then travelled through regional Victoria, crossed the border into NSW where they visited regional centres, and then entered Queensland on June 5 – two days after she started showing symptoms of coronavirus.
The 44-year-old woman from Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast was tested last week on Tuesday and returned a positive result on Wednesday.
She had been experiencing symptoms from June 3 but only sought a test on June 8.
Brisbane residents queue to be processed through a drive-in Covid testing site at Bowen Hills in Brisbane, Monday, March 29, 2021
But despite the presence of the deadly disease in wastewater it does not necessarily mean there are any active cases spreading in the community.
‘A positive sewage result means that someone who has been infected or is currently infected, is shedding the virus,’ Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said.
‘Infected people can shed viral fragments and that shedding can happen for several weeks to months after the person is no longer infectious.’
But Dr Young urged Queenslanders not to be complacent.