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Darwin, Cairns, Melbourne, Adelaide – infected woman carries virus far and wide

Queensland is on alert about potential COVID-19 exposure at opposite ends of the state as authorities begin rolling out booster shots.

Nov 08, 2021, updated Nov 08, 2021
Jetstar's performance has been highlighted by the ACCC (File photograph).

Jetstar's performance has been highlighted by the ACCC (File photograph).

The state recorded no new locally-acquired cases on Sunday with an outbreak in the southern town of Goondiwindi, linked to an outbreak in Moree in northern NSW, at four active cases.

However, later in the day Darling Downs Health moved to restrict to Toowoomba hospital due potential exposure linked to the Goondiwindi outbreak.

“Our public health unit is investigating a possible exposure of COVID-19 at the Toowoomba hospital linked to the recent Goondiwindi outbreak,” DDH said in a statement on Facebook on Sunday.

“In order to do this, we are restricting some visitors to the hospital at this time.”

Authorities in the state’s far north are tracking down people who were at five venues in Cairns and Mission Beach when a COVID-19 patient, who is now in the Northern Territory, visited two weeks ago.

Authorities are also tracking down passengers who arrived in Cairns on the same flight as the woman from Adelaide on October 25.

The 21-year-old woman, who was revealed as the source of the Northern Territory’s COVID-19 cluster, had spent time in Melbourne, where NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner said she “almost certainly” contracted the coronavirus before spending time in Adelaide and Cairns.

Queensland Health on Sunday listed six contact-tracing alerts for a Jetstar flight from Adelaide to Cairns on October 25 and sites in Cairns and Mission Beach on October 25, 27 and 29, including the Cairns Domestic Airport and Cairns Central Shopping Centre.

All are listed as casual or low-risk contacts.

The woman arrived in Darwin from Queensland on October 29. Gunner said she had been fined for lying on her border entry form.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says Queensland is likely to have hit 80 per cent of its 16-plus population with at least their first vaccine dose by Tuesday.

She previously said face masks could be scrapped for vaccinated people once 80 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, but Mr Chelepy wouldn’t confirm that.

However, he said the most important change will be easing quarantine requirements for fully-vaccinated domestic travellers.

Meanwhile, businesses are concerned they still don’t have clear guidelines about how restrictions will change once the state hits 80 per cent.

Many are particularly concerned about dealing with unvaccinated customers.

Liberal National Party small business spokesman Brent Mickelberg said businesses needed clear rules and certainty in the lead-up to Christmas.

“They have got nothing from the state government, just more uncertainty,” he said in a statement.

“Small business owners and their staff deserve better than the slow and inadequate support they have been provided by the state government so far.”

 

 

 

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