More than 3 million Queenslanders will enter into the state’s strictest lockdown ever after six new Covid cases were recorded on Saturday.
From 4pm on Saturday 3.2 million residents from 11 LGAs in the state will be confined to their homes for three days until 4pm on Tuesday.
The new cases are all confirmed to be the highly contagious Deltra strain of the virus.
The LGas affected include the City of Brisbane, the Moreton Bay Regional Council, the City of Gold Coast, the City of Ipswich, the Lockyer Valley Regional Council, the Logan City, the Noosa Shire Council, Redland City, the Scenic Rim Regional Council, the Somerset Regional Council and the Sunshine Coast Regional Council.
Residents living in those areas can only leave home for four reasons including for essential goods, to provide or receive care, for essential school and work, and exercise.
Residents can only exercise with one other person and must stay within 10km of their home.
A 17-year-old senior school student from Indooroopilly State High School in Brisbane’s inner west felt unwell yesterday and returned a positive test early on Friday morning
The six new cases are all linked to the Indooroopilly State High School. Pictured is police with the school’s acting Principal as the school shuts for deep cleaning
Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the state had no choice but to impose the harsh restrictions.
‘We have seen from the experience in other states that the only way to beat the Delta strain is to move quickly, to be fast, and to be strong,’ he said.
‘This will be the strictest lockdown that we have had.’
Funerals and weddings will be reduced to ten people and hospitality venues will be limited to takeaway only.
Non-essential businesses such as cinemas, hairdressers, gyms and places of worship will all close.
Visitors to houses will also not be permitted.
The restrictions apply to anybody who had been in any of the 11 LGAs from 1am on Saturday regardless or not if they’ve since left the area.
Masks will be required for both students and staff at high schools.
Community and professional sport including NRL games will not be permitted during the lockdown.
It comes a day after Indooroopilly State High School in Brisbane’s inner west was forced to close for a specialist deep clean while Queensland Health performed contact tracing on a Covid positive 17-year-old schoolgirl and her family.
The six new cases recorded on Saturday are all linked to the teenager.
One of the new cases recorded on Saturday is a tutor from the University of Queensland who had taught the teenager.
The other cases are the girl’s parents and two siblings.
The last case is in a teacher from the Ironside State School in Brisbane.
All students and staff from both schools are now isolating for 14 days.
The youngest child of the family that have tested positive from the Indooroopilly school attends the Ironside school.
Mr Miles urged residents entering the lockdown not to panic buy.
More than 3 million Queenslanders will enter into the state’s strictest lockdown ever after six new Covid cases were recorded on Saturday (pictured is the Gold Coast)
‘Please don’t rush our grocery stores. That creates a risk of infection that we want to avoid,’ he said.
‘We have been in contact with the supermarkets – they are all well-supplied.
‘So, anyone rushing, stockpiling, it just makes the job of our grocery stores, our supermarkets, and the essentia; workers in those supermarkets, eve harder and more risky.’
He urged the state not to be complacent with the restrictions as authorities fear a larger outbreak is possible.
‘We have been here before, but this time it’s different,’ Mr Miles said.
‘We cannot afford to be complacent just because we have done so well so far. We all have to comply with these restrictions.’
Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath confirmed the case at the Indooroopilly school of 2,500 students at Friday morning’s Covid update.
‘She became unwell yesterday and went and got tested and overnight her result has come back positive,’ she said.
‘We are testing her family members. It’s a family of five. They live a at Taringa. She’s been in the community for three days and at school for two days.’
The unlinked case at Indooroopilly State High School saw the school closed for 48 hours to undertake deep cleaning (above) as contact tracers worked to find the source of the infection
Indooroopilly State High School is a major Brisbane high school, educating around 2,500 students
Queensland’s chief health officer Jeannette Young described the new case as ‘quite concerning’ as health authorities scrambled to identify its source
‘This is an unknown, unlinked case at this stage,’ Ms D’Ath said. ‘Until we get more information, masks are more important than ever,’
An email from Acting Principal Derek Weeks to parents early on Friday morning alerted them to the case and the closure of the school for 48 hours.
‘I am writing to let you know that a person associated with our school community has been diagnosed with Covid-19,’ Mr Weeks’s email read.
‘As a result, our school will be closed effectively immediately for 48 hours to allow for Queensland Health to perform this contact tracing and, as an extra precaution, I have arranged for specialist cleaners to come to perform a deep clean in accordance with Queensland Health guidelines.
‘I will continue to liaise with the department and we will continue to take the advice from Queensland Health.’
The acting principal urged anyone feeling unwell or displaying symptoms of the virus to immediately consult their GP.
The Springfield campus of the University of Southern Queensland was also closed for precautionary cleaning late Friday morning as a result of the Indooroopilly State High student’s positive test.
Students of the university and the school had collaborated earlier this week.
A community vaccination centre in the Nicholas Street Precinct at Ipswich was also closed until further notice after the Indooroopilly student visited the clinic yesterday.
Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young said the school case was ‘quite concerning’.
‘I’m struggling to understand how she’s acquired it,’ she said. ‘So we’ll have to wait until we get whole genome sequencing results back later today to be able to work out where she’s got this from.’
‘If this girl was a close contact we would have expected to hear by now,’ Alex, a parent of two daughters at the high school, told ABC Radio on Friday morning. ‘We don’t know anything at this stage.’
Yesterday, Queensland’s mask mandate was extended a further week due to a number of ‘incursions’ of the virus into the state.
Earlier this week it was announced a man who tested negative three times in hotel quarantine later returned a positive test after being infectious in the community in Brisbane for six days.
He stayed at a backpacker hostel in Brisbane before becoming unwell and getting tested last Monday.
Anyone who stayed at Joe’s Place Backpackers and Brisbane City Backpackers from the afternoon of July 20 to 1am July 28 were considered close contacts.
A pop-up drive-through Coronavirus testing facility is seen at the Centrepoint Church in Taigum, Brisbane this week. Queensland’s mask mandate will continue another seven days after recent ‘incursions’ of the virus into the state