Queensland Covid update: 16 new local cases reported as south-east waits for lockdown decision

Queensland has recorded 16 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases, all of which are linked to the Indooroopilly outbreak, bringing the total in the cluster to 79.

The deputy premier, Steven Miles, said it was “encouraging that all of the new cases again can be directly linked”, but that it was too early to predict whether the lockdown of 11 local government areas in south-east Queensland would lift on Sunday as planned.

“We just need to do everything that we can these next couple of days to give us the best possible chance of lifting or at least easing some restrictions from Sunday,” Miles said.

Of the locally acquired cases, 12 were in quarantine for their entire infectious period. Four people were infectious in the community: three for one day and one person for two days.

The Queensland chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, described the situation as “excellent” and said Brisbane’s stay-at-home restrictions hopefully limited contact between the positive cases and other people.

“That’s why you have a lockdown: first, to give you the chance to find everyone who might possibly be infectious and have them in quarantine. But second, for the period that they are out and about, there’s far fewer other people,” she said.

The state also recorded 11 overseas-acquired cases on board the Pan Europe, an LNG tanker anchored off the port of Gladstone. Authorities said most of the crew were vaccinated and had minimal symptoms, so were presently being managed aboard the ship.

Young said it was “very reassuring” that there were no further cases in Cairns, after a confirmed Covid-19 infection in a reef pilot yesterday.

In Brisbane, there were new cases in three students at Ironside state school and nine of their household contacts. A teacher and two students at Brisbane Grammar school also tested positive, as well as a household contact.

Of 122 active Covid cases, 65 people are in hospital. One person is in intensive care in a stable condition and is not

ventilated.

“We do have a lot of children in hospital, but they’re not particularly unwell, but they need to be in hospital,” Young said.

Given the high transmissibility of the Delta variant, Young said the government was considering extending the mask mandate to children under 12.

Queensland’s health minister, Yvette D’Ath, said the commonwealth government had agreed to bring forward the delivery of 112,320 Pfizer vaccine doses originally scheduled for September.

“We have been advised that half of those vaccines will arrive next week, with the following half the following week,” D’Ath said.

D’Ath said the Queensland government would provide 22,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to 113 pharmacies, ahead of an additional 150,000 doses from the federal government.

“We are providing AstraZeneca as well as the consumables that pharmacies need to start vaccinating in the next couple of days, while they wait for the extra deliveries to arrive from the commonwealth next week.”

A record 52,350 Covid tests were taken in Queensland in the past 24 hours, the second consecutive day testing numbers exceeded 50,000.

Miles said the government was aware of delays in online delivery in the western suburbs and inner western suburbs of Brisbane as a result of the sheer number of people in home quarantine. More than 7,700 people are currently subject to home quarantine directions.