Vic pair escape into Qld

QUEENSLAND is facing a renewed Covid scare after a Melbourne couple escaped lockdown to travel to the Sunshine Coast, where a 44-yearold woman has returned a positive result after entering the state on June 5.

Health authorities have identified six close contacts of the woman, believed to be from greater Melbourne and staying with family at Caloundra.

The woman’s partner has tested negative but was admitted to the Sunshine Coast University Hospital given he had spent an extended amount of time in the car with her.

The woman developed symptoms on June 3.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath and chief health officer Jeannette Young confirmed the case in an address to media at 3.30pm.

The last locally acquired case of the virus in Queensland was recorded on April 3. The couple left Melbourne on June 1 and crossed the Queensland border at Goondiwindi on June 5.

Ms D’Ath said the couple had also travelled to Toowoomba on their way to the Sunshine Coast.

The couple are understood to have spent four days in country NSW before driving to Queensland on June 5 and ended up at Caloundra.

Dr Young said the woman could have been infectious as she was travelling through NSW. She said she wants serology results to determine whether this was a recovered case – at the end of her sickness.

Ms D’Ath said the 44-yearold woman, who arrived in Queensland on June 5, and had been residing in Caloundra with family members, had tested positive to SARSCoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

“We have been here before, we know what to do,” Ms D’Ath said.

She said exposure sites in Queensland included Goondiwindi McDonald’s at 7.35am -7.50am on June 5.