Queensland's new orders after Sydney lockdown

Following the news of a Sydney lockdown, Queensland Health has announced that anyone who is currently in Queensland and has been to the LGAs of Waverley, Woollahra, Randwick and the City of Sydney since 11 June must follow the same lockdown rules imposed in New South Wales.

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said we are continuing to respond appropriately to protect the Queensland community.

“If you have been to one of the four local government areas, from 1am tomorrow, 26 June, you must stay where you are and only leave for the permitted purposes,” she said.

“But I’m asking you to be sensible – if you're one of these people, please don’t rush off to another location on holiday – if you do, you’ll still need to follow these rules wherever you are.

“I am also now backdating the hotspot declaration for those four LGAs to 1am 11 June – this means any Queensland residents returning home after 1am tomorrow who have been in these hotspot LGAs in the past 14 days will go into hotel quarantine. Any other travellers who have been in these hotspot LGAs in the last 14 days will not be allowed to enter Queensland except for a limited range of essential reasons"

Dr Young also said due to the rising COVID-19 cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant in New South Wales, anyone moving between the cross-border zones of New South Wales and Queensland must complete a Queensland Travel Declaration from 1am Monday 28 June.

“There are now 210 exposure venues in New South Wales and that’s concerning due to many of these cases being infected by fleeting contact,” Dr Young said.

“We now need everyone coming into Queensland - even the cross border communities - to complete a travel declaration so we can reach people quickly if needed.

“I continue to urge all Queenslanders to reconsider their need to travel to New South Wales during this time.”

Dr Young urged people to check the New South Wales contract tracing locations regularly.

“Locations are being added multiple times throughout the day, so it’s absolutely vital people keep checking that list,” she said.

“If you have been to any of the exposure sites at the specified times, you must follow the specified health advice.”

Meanwhile, Queensland has recorded two new cases of locally-acquired COVID-19 today (Friday 25 June), which were both detected in quarantine.

The new cases are close contacts of the known COVID-19 case reported on Sunday 20 June.

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young is urging anyone who visited the Brisbane Airport DFO between 4pm and 4.30pm on Saturday 19 June to come forward and get tested.

"Our contact tracers have done a terrific job and thank you to all those who self-identified, filled out the contracting form and got tested,” Dr Young said.

“It’s good news the case detected last weekend wasn’t the highly transmissible Delta variant, but we do still need to take every precaution.

“So, to minimise transmission and to protect our community, we want anyone who visited the DFO on Saturday 19 June, to go and get tested even if you have no symptoms at all so we can detect possible cases at the earliest opportunity.

“We are doing this now because if you’re going to get any possible COVID-19 symptoms it could possibly be detected in testing now as some time has lapsed. It would’ve been too early to get tested when the case was first announced and you wouldn’t even have been infected at that time.”

Queensland Health has also identified contact tracing locations in New Zealand and Melbourne and is encouraging anyone who’s been to New Zealand and Melbourne recently to check the website for location updates.

Contact tracing locations for New South Wales, Melbourne and New Zealand are published at www.health.qld.gov.au/tracing

Today, Queensland’s latest easing of restrictions comes to fruition, including the expansion of the Check In QLD app.

Dr Young said the app played a vital role in Queensland’s contact tracing process.

“The Check In Qld app is simple to use and plays a key role in managing future outbreaks,” she said.

"It allows us to act swiftly when contact tracing as the data is readily available and accurate.

“We’ve added a number of new venues requiring to use the app, including supermarkets, retail shops and shopping centres; anywhere there is face to face contact.

“So a person entering a shopping centre will have to check in at the time of entry, as well as at the time of entry to each business within the centre. So, if you go to a department store, followed by the pharmacy and the butcher, then you must check in at all of those places.

“Queenslanders have done an incredible job so far responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and this is another way for us to keep doing all we can to reduce the risk of an outbreak.”