Targeted Lockdown in Parts of Brisbane After Man Contracts Virus Locally

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk speaks at a press conference in Brisbane, Australia on March 15, 2021. (Jono Searle/Getty Images)

The Queensland government is implementing a targeted lockdown in parts of Brisbane after a man was found to have been infectious with the CCP virus in the community for a week.

From noon on Friday, visitors will not be permitted at aged care and disability centres, hospitals, and correctional centres in the Brisbane City and Moreton Bay regional council areas.

“I know these restrictions are hard, but we need to keep our most vulnerable safe,” Deputy Premier Steven Miles wrote on Facebook on Friday.

This comes after a 26-year-old man from Stafford tested positive on Thursday night, having acquired the virus locally. Although he was tested on Thursday night, he was infectious in the community since last Friday—seven days ago.

Queensland Health is now carrying out contact tracing at all the venues he visited during that time. The man is known to have visited:

• Carindale Shopping Centre
• Bunnings at Stafford
• The fresh food market stall at Gasworks, Newstead
• Mamma’s Italian Restaurant at Redcliffe
• The Guzman y Gomez drive-through at Stafford
• Aldi at Stafford

The Queensland government urges anyone who feels sick to isolate and arrange to be tested for the virus immediately. People can call 13HEALTH (13 43 25 84) for more information.

At around 4 p.m. on Friday, Queensland Health published a detailed list of venues and times visited by the infectious man on the Facebook post embedded below. Anyone who has been at the listed locations during the relevant times was advised to immediately get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said there was no need for alarm but reminded people of the need for social distancing and hand hygiene and digitally checking in with contact tracing apps when visiting venues.

“It’s great to see people out and about,” Palaszczuk said. “Over the last week, I’ve been to a couple of functions where there have been over 300 people. Can I just make some observations? People are not social distancing. We really need people to social distance.

“And the other thing that’s come back is everyone is doing handshakes again. Please, we are still in the midst of a pandemic. Now is not the time to break our social distancing, our good hand hygiene, and the handshakes.”

“So, I’m sorry, everyone, but we need to abide by these things if we’re going to get through this,” Palaszczuk said.

CCP Virus Health Impact in Queensland

The health impact of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus, which causes the COVID-19 disease, has not hurt Queensland as badly as in other states or parts of the world.

In the last year, only six Queenslanders have died while positive with the virus, and there have been less than 1,500 total cases.

The federal Department of Health says a COVID-19 death is “defined for surveillance purposes as a death in a probable or confirmed COVID-19 case, unless there is a clear alternative cause of death that cannot be related to COVID-19 (e.g. trauma).”

Over 1,300 Queenslanders who contracted the virus have recovered, while 69 active cases remain.

The vast majority of the cases have been centred around South East Queensland.