Tracers in dash to identify contacts

QUEENSLAND authorities are racing to identify hundreds of potential close contacts who crossed paths with an infected trio who spent a combined 38 hours in the community across nearly 50 locations.

A total of 2134 people were in home quarantine in Queensland as of Monday morning as a result of multiple outbreaks, police confirmed they had interviewed a Delta-infected man accused of fleeing Sydney’s lockdown and travelling in the community for seven days.

Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said police had also interviewed the infected flight attendant who allegedly picked up the man in Ballina and drove him into Queensland on July 14.

Mr Gollschewski said the woman had not been forthcoming with information and had sought legal representation.

Authorities allege the man ignored orders to quarantine at home after a colleague tested positive to the Delta variant and instead travelled to Queensland in breach of Sydney’s lockdown, before lying about his whereabouts when health staff contacted him with his positive test results.

Meanwhile, health officials have been left perplexed by the state’s latest positive case – a fully vaccinated returned traveller who became unwell a day after leaving hotel quarantine.

The man, in his 40s, lives on the Gold Coast and had recently returned from China.

Authorities were last night waiting on genomic sequencing to determine if the man had contracted the virus overseas or if Queensland was facing another potential leak of Covid-19 from hotel quarantine. As of 6pm on Monday evening the two infected men and the infected woman had separately traversed almost a dozen suburbs across southeast Queensland, spending a total of 38.5 hours across 46 locations while infectious.

Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young conceded she still had no idea where the returned traveller contracted the virus, not ruling out that he could have picked it up in the community.