The Project host Lisa Wilkinson urged Queenslanders to follow lockdown rules as she said the ongoing Covid outbreak Sydney should serve as a ‘warning’.
Queensland entered a snap three-day lockdown on Saturday, imposing strict conditions on 11 LGAs in south-east Queensland.
More than three-quarters of Queensland’s population are covered by the lockdown, which restricts movement except for essential work, groceries, medical care, caregiving or exercise within 10km of home.
‘Please take the example of what has happened in Sydney,’ Wilkinson said on The Project last night.
‘Just follow all the rules, because that’s the only way to get through this thing…
The Project host Lisa Wilkinson pleaded with Queenslanders to follow lockdown rules to avoid the situation Greater Sydney now found itself in
NSW Police are seen at Coogee Beach on Sunday during Greater Sydney’s ongoing lockdown
Wilkinson said it would be harder for Queenslanders because they had ‘never been through one of these full lockdowns before.’
Queensland announced six cases of community transmission of the Delta variant on Saturday and nine on Sunday, it’s largest number of cases since August 2020.
The announcement followed the closure of Indooroopilly State High School on Friday after a 17-year-old schoolgirl tested positive for the virus.
It’s believed she acquired Covid from a tutor, a university medical student, who had visited many sites across Brisbane.
At Sunday’s Queensland Covid update, health minister Yvette D’Ath echoed Wilkinson’s comments by noting how quickly the outbreak had grown in Sydney.
‘New South Wales had one case on 16 June,’ she said. ‘Thirty-eight days later, they are at 3,000 cases.’
‘From that one person — 38 days, 3,000 cases. Sadly, 13 people have died just from that one cluster.’
President of AMA Queensland, Chris Perry, told ABC on Monday that the three-day lockdown would likely not be long enough to deal with the Queensland outbreak.
‘I’d be surprised if we’re back by the end of this week,’ he said. ‘I think two weeks is probably what we are looking at.’
Queensland has gone into a snap three-day lockdown after six locally-acquired cases of COVID-19, reported on Saturday
Health workers process members of the public at a pop-up COVID-19 testing station at Indooroopilly State High School in Brisbane, Queensland,
Brisbane’s Riverside Expressway was deserted, pictured on Sunday night during the first day of south-east Queensland’s three-day lockdown
Local government areas of Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan City, Moreton Bay, Redlands, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Noosa, Somerset, Lockyer Valley and Scenic Rim are covered by the restrictions.
Residents in these areas can only leave home for essential work, study or child care, to exercise, buy food and supplies, and receive health care, including being tested for COVID-19 or vaccinated.
Non-essential travel must be within 10 kilometres of residences and everyone must wear a mask when outside their home.
All schools in these LGAs are closed on Monday and Tuesday.
Queensland’s chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said lifting the lockdown would depend on containment of those infectious with the virus.
‘The threshold is that I’m confident that all the cases that potentially have been exposed are safely in quarantine and are unlikely to end up having been infectious out in the community so unlikely to have been out there spreading,’ she said on Sunday.