Queensland (QLD) Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young said she was “struggling to understand” how a 17-year-old Brisbane schoolgirl has contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus.
The Australian student became unwell on Thursday and tested positive overnight.
QLD Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said the girl’s family of five, who live in the Brisbane suburb of Taringa, were also being tested.
Indooroopilly State High School has notified families and closed down for a deep clean.
QLD Health authorities have very little information at this stage, and other exposure sites have not yet been identified.
“At this point, we understand the family hasn’t travelled anywhere,” D'Ath said. “We are still to get genomic sequencing to find out what variant it is and also whether it’s linked to any other cases in Queensland or Australia.”
The state health minister urged caution and for residents to wear masks and social distance.
Genome sequencing test results are expected on Friday afternoon.
“We have had 13 incursions of the virus into Queensland over the last six weeks,” Young said. "We know that in any particular outbreak someone can get infected, not have symptoms, and then spread the virus to someone else.
“Which is why it’s critically important that we all remain cautious until the vast majority of people have been able to be vaccinated,” she said.
As Queensland aims to achieve high vaccination rates in order to ease caution and response measures, both Israel and Singapore, which have achieved high vaccination rates, have recently reintroduced restrictions, with Singapore also imposing a semi-lockdown in response to fresh outbreaks of the CCP virus Delta variant.
Given the situations in Singapore and Israel, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused to commit to lockdowns ending once a target number of vaccinations are achieved.
“The virus is unpredictable and it would be irresponsible to do so,” he told The Australian.
