Caution urged in the days to come

TOOWOOMBA Regional Council Mayor Paul Antonio has welcomed the easing of temporary restrictions across the region, while urging caution as the Garden City ramps up toward Carnival of Flowers.

Additional restrictions on gathering numbers and aged care and hospital visits imposed in the wake of a COVID-19 contact tracing alert in Toowoomba 19 days ago were lifted yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference in Mackay, Deputy Premier and Health Minister Stephen Miles said there were no new cases in Queensland in the last 24 hours, with 6424 tests conducted.

Mr Miles said the temporary restrictions for the Darling Downs Health region would be lifted.

That means gatherings of up to 30 are now allowed, both outdoors and in people’s homes. visitors will be permitted at hospitals, but may be required by the hospital to wear personal protective equipment, and aged care facilities can accept visitors when they are read to do so.

Cr Antonio said he was “absolutely delighted” to hear of the easing of restrictions, but that there would be no changes to the first weekend of Carnival of Flowers.

While there will be no parade to attend this year, Cr An

I’D LIKE TO SAY TO ALL OF THOSE FAMILIES, ALL THOSE GRANDPARENTS, THANK YOU FOR THE SACRIFICE YOU HAVE MADE. IT REALLY HAS KEPT OUR COMMUNITY SAFE.”

DEPUTY PREMIER STEPHEN MILES

tonio said Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk would be in town to celebrate carnival.

He stressed for people to maintain social distancing throughout the event and said there would be “some supervision of that by our local police and local (council) staff to make sure we don’t get too big a gatherings”.

“Let’s not underestimate the potential there is for this to cause us more trouble in the future,” he said.

“Let’s celebrate the carnival as best we can.

“We understand the circumstances at this point in time and hopefully next year we can have a really you-beaut carnival and enjoy it twice as much to make up for this year.”

Speaking about the lifting of restrictions Mr Miles paid tribute to Queenslanders for their efforts.

”I’d like to say to all of those families, all those grandparents, thank you for the sacrifice you have made. It really has kept our community safe.”