Queensland on Covid alert after family breaches border, refuses testing

Queensland’s dream Covid-19 run is in jeopardy after a family drove from Victoria across the Queensland border and sent their children to school on the Gold Coast.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath told parliament on Thursday that the Gold Coast family was forced into hotel quarantine by authorities after refusing to be tested for Covid-19. The family of five, which has three children under the age of 10, allegedly drove into Queensland from Melbourne through inland highways.

“Unfortunately, this family is refusing to be tested and so far is not co-operating with authorities and refusing to reveal where they’ve been,” D’Ath told parliament.

“However, we do know the children in this family did attend school on 31 August at the Australian International Islamic College in Carrara. In light of these developments in Logan and on the Gold Coast, we’re encouraging anyone in these LGAs to get tested and isolate until they receive their results.”

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Queensland Health Minister Janette Young said students and families at the school would have to go into quarantine until the family’s children were tested. If the parents refused to get their children tested the school would need to quarantine for 14 days.

“Police have informed us that they have information that they’ve returned around three days ago and two of the children went to school and those children told their classmates that they had recently been in Melbourne so police then attended the school yesterday and the family of five is now in hotel quarantine and we are working with them,” she said.

“I am sure that they are concerned and they are worried and we’re trying to work through that with them.”

The news follows revelations that a truck driver who tested positive for Covid-19 was active in Queensland from August 27 to September 1. The driver was on the Gold Coast for five days while infectious.

Another truck driver has tested positive in NSW but was in Queensland on Thursday at Goondiwindi and Archerfield.

Young urged Queenslanders to get vaccinated against coronavirus and warned the state would find itself in the same situation as NSW and Victoria if people didn’t come forward for the jab.