Queensland’s Covid Cases Soar In Lead-Up To Long Weekend

Face masks reinstated


Article heading image for Queensland’s Covid Cases Soar In Lead-Up To Long Weekend

News Corp Australia

Queensland reported a rapid spike in Covid cases with 186 new infections detected on Wednesday, up from 86 in the previous 24-hour reporting period.

With no Covid hospital admissions, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters the Queensland government are prepared for case numbers to escalate exponentially across the state, particularly after more than 257,000 people have crossed the border since Monday.

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“We are going to see thousands of cases of Omicron (variant) in Queensland,” she said.

“We do not have large numbers of people in ICU (intensive care units) but these are early days.

- Premier Palaszczuk

Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said he was not surprised at the rise in cases with the highly transmissible Omicron the dominant variant in Queensland.

“We’ve had locations across the state, Cairns, Townsville, central Queensland...it’s everywhere and we know that we’re not picking up every case,” he said.

Meantime, in a bid to curb the spread of the virus, the sunshine state is returning to mask restrictions.

People working in cinemas, theatres and hospitality, will be required to wear face masks from 5am Thursday.

"We’ve had 257,000 people crossing the border from Victoria, ACT and NSW since Monday. Everyone wants to come to Queensland, but we want to make sure that it is safe," the Premier implored. "If you think about it, it’s more than the population of Townsville has come into Queensland. We are a tourist destination.

"Because the variant, the Omicron is highly contagious, and we want to ensure that Queenslanders and people coming into Queensland have a safe Christmas and New Year. That means we as much protection as we possibly can."

- Premier Palaszczuk

Queensland is expected to hit the 90 per cent fully vaccinated target on Wednesday.

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Join Tom Tilley with regular rotating co-hosts Jan Fran, Annika Smethurst and Jamila Rizvi on The Briefing, Monday - Saturday, for the day's headlines and breaking news as well as hot topics and interviews. Available on Listnr.

Triple M Newsroom

22 December 2021

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Triple M Newsroom




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