Queensland records a MAJOR spike in Covid cases with the state seeing 22 new infections

Queensland has announced a spike in Covid cases to 22 after the state’s borders reopened last Monday.

Eighteen of the cases had been infectious in community, while two were detected in home quarantine and two in hotel quarantine. 

The state detected only six cases yesterday.

The new cases had been infectious in the community for between one and seven days, Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said. 

The majority of the new cases had arrived into Queensland from interstate. The state now has 67 active Covid cases. 

Ms D’Ath urged Queenslanders to wear masks wherever possible to ‘stop the spread’. 

One of the positive cases visited a Holland Park aged care facility and staff are now being tested.

The state now has three active cases of Omicron. One is the traveller to Townsville on a Virgin flight from Brisbane, one is a south Brisbane patient and another is a flight attendant from Rochedale who is in hotel quarantine.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard foreshadowed that more Omicron cases would likely be identified in the state tomorrow. 

He said reintroduction of a mask mandate in Queensland was being looked at ‘very closely’ to try and slow the spread of Omicron in the state. 

‘Obviously we are concerned, we’re expecting this surge of the virus within weeks here in Queensland,’ Dr Gerrard said. 

‘We don’t want a urge that overwhelms the hospitals and doesn’t allow the vulnerable the time to get a third dose of the vaccine,’ he said. 

Dr Gerrard said it was likely the state will see fatalities from the surge, ‘particularly among the unvaccinated’. 

The new cases are spread across different parts of the state, including Brisbane south, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Wide Bay, Townsville, West Moreton and the Darling Downs.