The Sunshine Coast remained in the clear as Queensland recorded 16 new Delta infections and smashed daily testing records but copped a shopping warning from authorities.
Deputy Premier Dr Steven Miles said that in less than a week, daily case numbers were higher than any time since the initial phase of the pandemic in 2020.
And while Dr Miles said there were early signs the lockdown was working, he warned it could be extended beyond Sunday unless Queenslanders stayed at home and stopped going to the shops for non-essential reasons.
His shopping warning was reiterated by the chief health officer who stated: “If we don’t do something really, really, really special in Queensland, we’ll be extending the lockdown.”
Many shops that sell non-essential items such as clothing and furniture remain open but authorities say the onus is on people not leave home to buy things other than food and essentials.
“Now is not the time to be buying outdoor furniture. There’ll be time before summer to get sun lounges,” said Dr Miles.
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This comes as police step up checks to ensure people are complying with lockdown orders in South-East Queensland. You are only allowed to leave home for essential work or food, or to exercise within 10km of your residence.
Dr Miles also announced the Ekka show holiday scheduled for next Wednesday would be postponed to a future date so people could enjoy it and support the economy by spending money.
The 16 news cases were all linked to the Indooroopilly cluster, with four cases at Ironside State School, two from Indooroopilly State High School, one at Brisbane Boys Grammar and nine close contacts.
An infection announced late Tuesday in Cairns was not linked to the Brisbane outbreak. The pilot who guides ships in the Cairns area is believed to have contracted the virus as part of his work but was fully vaccinated and had a low virus load.
His wife and child have returned negative results.
Dr Miles said Queensland not only broke its daily testing record, but smashed it, with 51,479 people coming forward for swabbing on Tuesday (the previous record was 35,357).
Higher testing rates are seen as the way out of the lockdown to ensure there are no hidden chains of transmission lurking in the community.
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Despite the extreme number of tests, the Sunshine Coast again reported zero locally acquired cases, maintaining the region’s clean streak since the lockdown started on Saturday.
USC expert Matt Mason told Sunshine Coast News the urgent hunt to unearth the so-called ‘missing link’ on the Sunshine Coast that may have led to the Brisbane outbreak was reliant on high local testing.
Dr Jeannette Young has repeatedly singled out the Coast as the potential ‘missing link’ after genomic testing revealed the outbreak had the same sequencing as a patient who had quarantined at Sunshine Coast University Hospital (SCUH) in early to mid-July.
However, Dr Young said on Wednesday that authorities had still not found the link other than the genome sequencing which was why it was important for more people to get tested.
Dr Young said it was possible the elusive link would never be found, noting that it could have been someone at the Brisbane airport or hotel quarantine who did not display any symptoms.
She said she was getting more confident there were no chains of transmission in the community that authorities did not know about because of the high level of testing that had been done.
Mr Mason said it could transpire that there was no Delta to be found on the Coast in which case he said it made sense to consider lifting the lockdown restrictions for this region.
“I think if the testing numbers are high and there are clearly no cases outside of that central Brisbane area I think there’s a reasonable argument to lift some of the restrictions in other areas.
