A woman who travelled from Melbourne through NSW to Queensland's Sunshine Coast has tested positive for Covid-19, the state's Health Minister Yvette D'Ath has confirmed.
Photo: Bradley Kanaris / 2021 Getty Images
D'Ath said the 44-year-old woman was staying with her husband and other family members in Caloundra and was tested yesterday, with a positive result confirmed this afternoon.
The woman left Victoria on 1 June, travelled through New South Wales and crossed the Queensland border on 5 June. She was being interviewed and Queensland Health would release a list of exposure sites, D'Ath said.
Victoria's lockdown had already started when she left.
Testing clinics on the Sunshine Coast will be open for extended hours and D'Ath has urged people to get tested.
"We do have a number of sites already in areas like Goondiwindi and Toowoomba," she said.
"If you have been to one of the exposure sites, whether you have symptoms or not, we would like you to come forward and get tested."
The woman had crossed the border into Queensland at Goondiwindi.
Woman possibly infectious since 1 June
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the woman had been to "quite a few sites".
"If you've been to any of these exposure sites that this lady has been at, please come forward and get tested, whether or not you've got symptoms," Dr Young said.
The exposure sites include the Goondiwindi McDonalds and a Caltex super petrol station in Toowoomba on 5 June.
The woman then visited Sonny's at Moffat Beach on the Sunshine Coast, Coffee cat at Kings Beach on 6 June.
On 7 June 7, she visited the Stockland shopping centre at Caloundra and attended the Coffee Club at that precinct. She also shopped at the Stockland Kmart and Bunnings in Caloundra and Kawana Shopping World.
On 8 June, the woman was at an IGA in Caloundra and the female toilets near the IGA.
"These are just initial sites - we'll be getting more sites as we talk to the lady," Dr Young said.
Dr Young said the woman's husband had been admitted to the Sunshine Coast University Hospital as a precaution in case he also eventually tested positive.
"He's spent a lot of time with her in the car of course, so I'm quite concerned that he has been exposed and could become infected," she said.
The woman developed symptoms on 3 June and Dr Young said she could have been infectious since 1 June.
Police investigating entry into Queensland
Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said police would investigate how and why the woman entered Queensland.
"We've got a couple that have come from Victoria, when Victoria's in lockdown, into Queensland," Deputy Commissioner Gollschewski said.
"We'll examine all those issues around passes, whether they were appropriate and what has happened. It is too early to say.
"It's really important for us to remind the whole community that we cannot possibly check every single person moving around the country.
"We rely on the community to do the right thing.
"At this stage we've seen someone come into this state when they're positive with Covid."
He said a failure to comply with the Chief Health Officer's directive could result in court action.
Restrictions to ease on Friday
The latest Covid-19 case was announced as D'Ath also revealed Queensland would ease restrictions on Victoria from 1am on Friday, limiting the hotspot declaration to Greater Melbourne.
That would mean Victorians outside Greater Melbourne would be free to travel to Queensland without quarantine restrictions.
- ABC