CCP Virus Restrictions to Lift from Brisbane Overnight

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk speaks at a press conference in Brisbane, Australia on Jan. 11, 2021. (Jono Searle/Getty Images)

The Queensland government is lifting its CCP virus restrictions in the greater Brisbane region from 1 a.m. on Friday as there were no new locally-transmitted cases in the last 14 days, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on Thursday morning.

“Of course yesterday we said we were 100 percent on track to have our restrictions lifted at 1 a.m. tomorrow morning, and I can confirm that is exactly what is going to happen at 1 a.m. tomorrow morning,” Palaszczuk told reporters.

She said people would no longer have to wear masks in public indoor areas, but masks were still required at airports and on planes as a condition set down by national cabinet.

The premier encouraged those who may feel uncomfortable going into crowded areas where they can’t control their social distancing, such as on public transport or in shopping centres, to wear a mask voluntarily. “That’s entirely up to you,” she said.

Social distancing will return to one person per two square metres and dancing will be allowed indoors and outdoors at weddings again with up to 200 guests. Funerals can also have 200 people in attendance.

“I think that there would be a lot of other places around the world that would be very envious of the lifestyle that we have here in Queensland,” Palaszczuk said. “I want to preserve that lifestyle for many years to come.”

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young at a press conference in Brisbane, Australia on Oct. 30, 2020. (Jono Searle/Getty Images)

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the government had conducted “an enormous amount” of testing throughout Greater Brisbane in the last 14 days since the cluster of the UK variant emerged, but health officials had not seen any signs the CCP virus had spread further.

She urged people who develop any symptoms in the next 14 days to come forward for testing.

Queensland police said the source of the cluster at a Brisbane quarantine hotel that initially led to the restrictions being imposed might never be known.

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said an interim report would instead offer different possible scenarios about how the UK variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus, spread between four guests and a hotel cleaner at the Grand Chancellor earlier this month.

The cleaner unknowingly spread the virus to her partner, and the couple were in the community while infectious, which resulted in a snap three-day lockdown of 3.5 million people in Greater Brisbane.