- Queensland health authorities are taking urgent action after six previously-identified COVID-19 cases were found to be the highly-contagious U.K. strain of the virus
- The six cases were all staying in the same floor of Queensland’s Hotel Grand Chancellor, which has been used as a quarantine hotel for months
- The remaining 129 guests at the hotel will be transported to other hotels and have their quarantine timers “reset”
- On top of this, 226 staff who worked at the hotel since December 30 and 250 quarantine guests will now be tested and quarantined
- Nevertheless, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said there is no reason for the public to be concerned just yet
- Meanwhile, Victoria has marked its seventh day with no community transmission, while New South Wales recorded one new case overnight
Queensland health authorities are taking urgent action after six previously-identified COVID-19 cases were found to be the highly-contagious U.K. strain of the virus.
The six cases are all linked and were identified through genomic testing of people in hotel quarantine in Queensland’s Hotel Grand Chancellor. All six cases were found in people staying on the same floor as the hotel.
In response, the remaining 129 guests at the hotel are to be transported to other hotels on Thursday and tested again. What’s more, their quarantine time will be reset — meaning those who’ve already been quarantined for two weeks and were gearing up to return home will now spend another two weeks in a hotel room.
Despite the urgent and drastic action, however, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk assured Queenslanders there is no reason for the public to be concerned just yet.
Genomic testing has linked six previously confirmed cases to a quarantine hotel in Brisbane.
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) January 13, 2021
There is no need for the public to be concerned, but we are going to take some immediate actions as a precaution.
In a follow-up tweet, the Premier said 226 staff who have worked in the hotel since December 30 and 250 quarantine guests will now be tested and quarantined.
“This new U.K. strain of COVID is 70 per cent more contagious and different to the virus we’ve dealt with before,” she said.
“That’s why we’re taking very precaution to investigation and find any other possible cases. We don’t want to see this getting out into the community.”
The quarantine reset comes as police and Queensland health authorities continue to investigate how a cleaner in Grand Chancellor managed to contract the mutated strain of the virus from a returned traveller.
The case sparked the three-day lockdown in Brisbane over the weekend, which was lifted on Monday evening.
Of the six cases, however, only the cleaner and her partner have been out in the community. Queensland recorded no new cases of the virus today.
This comes as Victoria marks a “doughnut week”; seven days without community transmission after the Black Rock cluster from early in the new year.
New South Wales recorded one new case overnight — a child which is a household contact of a previously reported case.