Major Brisbane high school is shut down after student tests positive to Covid 

A state high school in Brisbane will close for 48 hours after a 17-year-old schoolgirl tested positive with Covid-19.

Indooroopilly State High School in Brisbane’s inner west will undergo specialist deep cleaning while Queensland Health performs contact tracing on the schoolgirl and her family.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath confirmed the case at the 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 Tooringa. She’s been in the community for three days and at school for two days.’  

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 30/07/2021 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. 

Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young said the 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 from from she’s got this.