The Sunshine Coast and Noosa have been told to stay and home and don’t move as a snap lockdown of 11 local government areas took effect from 4pm Saturday.
The three-day shutdown is scheduled to end on Tuesday and will be the “most restrictive we’ve ever been in” because it was the most infectious virus.
Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said it was vital that people did not leave their homes because she did now know where the virus was circulating and the lockdown was vital to stop it from spreading any further.
“I don’t know where the virus is the southeast but wherever it is, I don’t want it to get further. I want it to stay where it is,” said Dr Young.
“It could be on the Sunshine Coast or the Gold Coast … we don’t know where the virus is.”
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The snap lockdown came after Queensland recorded six new locally acquired cases linked to an Indooroopilly High School student.
The six new cases comprise four family members of the 17-year-old Indooroopilly student (her parents and two siblings), a medical student who tutors the teen and a staff member of lronside State School, which the family’s youngest child attends.
Dr Young suspects the infected medical student could be the index case of the outbreak and likely brought the virus into the Indooroopilly High School student’s home.
The medical student had been at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, the University of Queensland and the Translational Research Institute, and has a sibling who works at a hospital, Dr Young said.
“I expect there are going to be an enormous number of exposure sites all through Brisbane and probably as well through the Sunshine Coast and further,” she said.
Meanwhile AFL, NRL and Super Netball competitions have been thrown into chaos because of the snap lockdown.
The NRL was forced to postpone Saturday’s three matches, with Queensland Health later clearing the games to go ahead at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday.
The lockdown extends to anyone who was in one of the 11 LGAs as of 1am Saturday, so even if they have since travelled to another part of Queensland they must abide by the restrictions.
Residents in the affected lockdown areas can only leave home for four reasons — essential work, study or childcare, to exercise, buy food and supplies, and to receive healthcare, including being tested for COVID-19 or vaccinated against it.
There is also a 10km travel limit and no visitors allowed in the home.
Funerals and weddings in the lockdown zone will be limited to 10 people and hospitality will go to takeaway only. Other non-essential businesses will have to close.
All schools in the lockdown zone will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, while all staff and students of Indooroopilly High School and Ironside State School are in quarantine for two weeks.
Schools will be open on Monday and Tuesday for the children of essential workers and for children who are vulnerable.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles declared a “go hard, go early” response to the outbreak on Saturday.
“It is our intention that this is a short lockdown and that we can deal with this outbreak within days,” he told reporters.
Dr Miles said the government would work through the details of a compensation package on Saturday and make announcements on Sunday.
Dr Young said most people spread and caught the virus from people breathing out and in and “if we can keep people in a restricted area, we can keep the virus in a restricted area”.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said the state only had “once chance” to suppress the virus and there should be “no movement”.
“Stay at home,” she said.
Speaking on Sydney radio station 2GB on Saturday Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Queensland outbreak of Delta was concerning, and authorities need to move quickly to contain it.
“Once it gets going it is very hard to get back in the box as we are seeing in NSW,” he said.
Keep up-to-date with exposure sites here.
-with AAP
