MYSTERY CASES SPARK MORE TESTS

COVID-19 testing will be expanded to the general population on the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Cairns after authorities admitted they don’t know how 32 Queenslanders picked up the deadly virus.

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said anyone with symptoms would now be tested in those areas, regardless if they’d been overseas or had contact with a sick person, to check for hidden pockets of community transfer. It comes as just one new case was recorded on the Gold Coast in the last 24 hours.

ONLY one new case of coronavirus has been reported on the Gold Coast as authorities scramble to expand testing to the city’s general population.

However, Queensland Chief Health officer Jeanette Young has warned the situation will likely get worse before it gets better.

Dr Young said on Friday the government hopes to “contain (COVID-19) as long as we possibly can but eventually we won’t be able to contain it – and then we will start to see that increase”.

The Coast hit 175 cases of the coronavirus yesterday, accounting for the single new diagnosis.

Meanwhile, testing will be expanded to the general population on the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Cairns after authorities admitted they do not know how 32 Queenslanders picked up the deadly virus.

Dr Young said anyone with symptoms would now be tested, regardless if they’d been overseas or had contact with a sick person, to check for hidden pockets of community transfer.

It came as the government confirmed a $17.5 million fund to pay for hotel rooms for health workers working gruelling double shifts, and to keep their families safe from the threat of coronavirus, as revealed by News Corp.

And authorities have vowed to fine people still planning a leisurely Easter despite coronavirus restrictions, including people taking off to their holiday homes.

Across Queensland, 14 new cases were recorded yesterday, taking the state’s cases to 921.

Of that number, 743 people are still sick, including 43 in hospital. Twelve are in intensive care and 10 are ventilated.

But 173 Queenslanders have been given the all clear and are now fully recovered.

Dr Young said her instruction to GPs and fever clinics to broaden their testing would give a picture of whether there was greater community spread in those coronavirus hot spots.

“At this stage I don’t think we need to increase the testing outside those areas,” she said.

“I think this is pre-emptive, ahead of local transmission, so I don’t see there’ll be a big increase in numbers. Once we do see increased community transmission outside those areas, Gold Coast, Brisbane and Cairns, we’ll increase the testing there as well.”

As Health Minister Steven Miles thanked health workers on the front lines of coronavirus, he confirmed those worried about unwittingly transmitting coronavirus to a vulnerable family member could now ask to be put up in a hotel close to work.

“We are also planning to take care of our health workers throughout this outbreak, not only with a plan A, but also with a plan B and a plan C if they should need one,” he said.

“And that’s what this investment in possible accommodation for them is all about.”