The Chronicle

COAST CASE OF CONCERN TO PREMIER

- JESSICA MARSZALEK, DOMANII CAME

PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk has warned residents on the Gold Coast that some restrictio­ns may have to return to the region.

Ms Palaszczuk said if there were more cases on the Gold Coast in the next 24 to 48 hours, the government may introduce “some restrictio­ns”.

“We do now have two unlinked cases on the Gold Coast … we don’t know where these two unlinked cases have come from,” she said.

Acting chief health officer Dr Peter Aitken said he was “concerned” about the mystery cases on the Gold Coast and authoritie­s were watching “really closely”.

“We do need to watch this really closely … we’re really concerned,” Dr Aitken said.

The new Gold Coast case is unlinked and was detected in a fully vaccinated man in his 50s.

The man was potentiall­y infectious in the community for three days while he was actively working as an Uber driver.

It’s believed the case is not related to one at Pacific Pines announced on Wednesday.

That case, revealed on Wednesday, involved a 32-year-old man who had visited a number of locations on the Gold Coast, including Robina Town Centre. Ms Palaszczuk said she had “concerns” for the city, with the possibilit­y of restrictio­ns returning if the situation worsens.

“We will look at each case and how they all factor in, but I would not like to see multiple unlinked community cases over the next few days.”

She said that a lockdown has been avoided today because the Gold Coast is almost at the 80 per cent vaccinatio­n rate but the government would be closely watching the transmissi­on over the coming days.

Asked whether there would be a lockdown on the Gold Coast in the future, the Premier refused to rule it out.

 ?? ?? ON ALERT: Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk can’t rule out a Gold Coast lockdown in the future.
ON ALERT: Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk can’t rule out a Gold Coast lockdown in the future.

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