Premier not drawn on extension of Greater Brisbane lockdown

By Jeremy Sollars

Residents of the Greater Brisbane area are expected to know by mid-morning tomorrow – Monday 11 January – if the Covid-19 lockdown which began on Friday will be extended, with no new cases reported in Queensland in the last 24 hours.

The current lockdown extends to anyone – including Warwick and Stanthorpe residents – who was in the Greater Brisbane region on or since last Saturday 2 January, when a Brisbane hotel worker became infectious with a UK variant of the virus.

The Greater Brisbane region is the local government areas of Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, Redlands and Logan.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk indicated at a media conference earlier today – Sunday 10 January – that a decision on whether or not to extend the current lockdown, which is due to end at 6pm tomorrow, Monday.

That comes as the latest round of wastewater testing for Warwick and Stanthorpe – for the week commencing last Monday 4 January, with results released late on Friday – shows no viral ‘fragments’ were detected last week. Fragments were detected in both towns’ wastewater on Tuesday 29 December (Warwick) and Wednesday 30 December (Stanthorpe). Queensland Health did not advise of those detections until last Tuesday.

Fragments of the virus in wastewater are ‘shedded’ by a person who was either infectious at the time or had recovered from Covid-19 and shedding can occur up to three weeks after the infectious stage.

There are currently no active Covid-19 cases in the Darling Downs region which includes Warwick and Stanthorpe.

The Premier and Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young today would not be drawn on the likelihood of the Greater Brisbane lockdown being extended, noting that the non-emergence of any new Queensland cases in the 24 hours to Sunday morning was “wonderful news”.

Ms Palaszczuk acknowledged to media today that she was “very anxious” on Friday morning but said Queensland’s response had been “world leading”.