New restrictions for Queensland as nine new Covid-19 cases identified

Nine new coronavirus cases have been recorded in Queensland today, six of which are linked to the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre in Wacol, where a 77-year-old supervisor tested positive earlier this week. The other three cases are linked to cargo ships offshore.

Queensland health officials announced the latest figures on Saturday morning and confirmed that stricter restrictions would once again be imposed across the state’s south-east from today. The six cases linked to the youth detention cluster are spread across greater Brisbane: Bundamba, Marsden, Carindale, North Ipswich, Forest Lake.

As of Saturday, August 22, gatherings in homes and outdoors, such as in parks, will be limited to 10 people in Greater Brisbane. These guidelines will impact Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, Scenic Rim, Lockyer Valley, Moreton Bay and Redlands. While the rest of the state will be limited to gatherings of 30 people.

Businesses which have COVIDSafe plans in place, such as restaurants, cafes and gyms, will be exempt from the new restrictions. While aged care homes in the regions will also go back into lockdown.

Contact tracing for the new cases is underway and, addressing the media on Saturday morning, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirmed that more information would be made available to the public regarding the new cases and where they may have been recently.

“As we get that information we will absolutely be letting the community know,” the premier said. “We’re concerned about any contacts these people might have had.

“Let’s also bear in mind too that we may get further cases of workers at the detention centre.”

Health officials are reportedly concerned about the 77-year-old who tested positive at Wacol, as they have not yet been able to pinpoint where she contracted the illness. More than 500 workers and 127 inmates are being tested for the virus at the detention centre.

Queensland now has 15 active cases of Covid-19. Health Minister Steven Miles assured Queenslanders that “this is what they have been planning for”.