Aged care homes across greater Brisbane have been locked down, with visitors banned from visiting facilities in the Metro North, Metro South and West Morton health regions as residents prepare for a three-day COVID-19 lockdown from 6pm tonight.
Hospitals, disability accommodation and prisons will also ban visitors from today as health authorities work to contain the mutant UK strain of COVID-19 that has been diagnosed in a quarantine hotel cleaner who unknowingly roamed free in the community for five days while potentially infectious.
The coronavirus strain is thought to be 70% more contagious than strains currently found in Australia. It is being blamed for a sharp rise in cases in the UK and prompted a national lockdown in England that will be enforced until at least mid-February.
Britain reported more than 60,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases in 24 hours for the second day in a row on Wednesday.
Queensland Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeannette Young said the state was acting fast to contact trace anyone who had been in contact with the infected cleaner.
“We need to find every person who might have had contact with that lady now, find them and get them into quarantine – that’s what we’ve got to do over the next three days,” Dr Young said.
Contact tracers are tracking the movements of the cleaner, a woman in her 20s, who worked at the Grand Chancellor hotel on January 2.
She reportedly developed COVID-19 symptoms on Wednesday and was tested yesterday.
The cleaner, from Algester, travelled on the city’s public rail network to and from the inner city. Health authorities say she visited several locations while potentially infectious, including a Woolworths at Calamvale and Coles supermarket in Sunnybank Hills.
