Another 46 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the Sunshine State overnight, taking the state tally to 443, with the only Queensland death so far a woman who died in NSW.

But it is the location, and nature, of the latest cases that will be used to justify widespread business closures and restrictions on travel – and prompt questions as to whether the net has been tightened too slowly.

Sails Restaurant on Hastings Street at Noosa has been identified as the source of more than 20 new cases of COVID-19. A patron initially tested positive on March 14, prompting eight staff and patrons to be advised to self-isolate for two weeks.

“Since then we have confirmed, however, that two staff contracted COVID-19 (and) they worked shifts while potentially infectious,” Health Minister Steven Miles told journalists this morning.

Queensland Health subsequently confirmed that four staff, in total, had tested positive. While potentially infectious they worked at the restaurant on afternoon and evening shifts on March 18 and 19, before it shut down voluntarily on March 23.

Sunshine Coast Public Health Physician Dr Roscoe Taylor said guests who attended a 50th birthday party at the restaurant on March 14 – where the first case emerged – had since returned to other areas of south-east Queensland and been diagnosed with COVID-19.

“So it’s a bit of a moving tally but there have been at least 20 cases associated with the event so far and those numbers will probably increase slightly as we go forward,” Taylor said, noting that they should have displayed symptoms by now.

While restaurants, cafes and even shopping-centre food courts have since been restricted to takeaway, or closed altogether, Queensland Health has urged anyone who was at Sails when the sick staff were working to to be alert for any symptoms.

It comes after people who attended Rick Shores restaurant on the Gold Coast at lunchtime on March 13 were placed on alert, along with passengers on 39 specified flights into Queensland over the past fortnight, and numerous returning cruise ship passengers.

From noon, Australia has effectively banned international travel, while from midnight tonight any non-essential air, road, rail or sea travel into Queensland will require self-isolation for 14 days. Police will be out in force on the Gold Coast tonight to enforce the new border controls, partly due to the region having recorded the first untraceable cases of COVID-19.

An outbreak at a Sydney wedding prompted restrictions on nuptial gatherings, while funerals will also have limited attendance. The risks from those events, however, pales in comparison with the threat posed by cruise ships and those passengers travelling back to their home suburbs and towns. The decision to allow passengers on the Ruby Princess to disembark in Sydney has sparked a dispute between the NSW and federal governments, as health authorities across Australia report a surge in cases.

While avoiding blaming anyone for the Ruby Princess debacle today, Prime Minister Scott Morrison took the opportunity to announce the formation of a National COVID-19 Coordination Commission to “solve problems” in the broader response. It will be headed by former Fortescue CEO Nev Power – who, in addressing the media, mentioned the need to protect businesses before mentioning the need to protect communities.

Morrison said Australia’s health system had responded appropriately to the pandemic and was being bolstered, with more elective surgery being cancelled to accommodate COVID-19 patients. There have also been 162,747 tests to date, which on a per capita basis is a rate five times higher than the UK and 25 times higher than the US.

However, the pandemic, and the accompanying restrictions, also created an economic crisis that the Prime Minister said needed to be managed in order to protect livelihoods as well as lives.

The latest mandated business closures include beauty, nail, massage, waxing and tanning salons, tattoo parlours, auction houses, open houses, some markets, public pools, and amusement parks. Hair salons and barbershops can remain open, subject to time limits for patrons and social distancing requirements, however informal outdoor gatherings are banned.

“These are very difficult changes that we’re asking Australians to make,” Morrison said.

“We are very conscious of the great cost of these measures and the impact on the daily lives of Australians.”

Morrison urged Australians to stay at home, wherever and whenever possible, while also warning that house parties and large dinners are still banned and might be made illegal.

Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy acknowledged the spread of cruise ship cases and said people failing to adhere to health advice was another major concern. There have been 2,252 cases to date.

”If you’re identified as a contact of a case and you’re told that by the state and territory public health official and you’re told to isolate for 14 days, you must isolate,” Murphy said.

“Some people have been doing things like being told they’re a positive case and going into the chemist or the supermarket on the way home. If you’re isolating because you’re a positive case or you’re isolating because you’re a contact, you go home and you isolate and you obey those rules. That is a really, really important part of the control.”