Recovery time as test axed
THE scrapping of Queensland’s controversial day five PCR Covid tests for travellers is being hailed a win for the Gold Coast’s tourism industry.
Premier Anna Palaszczuk’s government buckled and dumped the requirement on Tuesday morning – effective immediately – after pressure from business, tourism and political leaders amid warnings it was undermining confidence.
On Tuesday, the state had 1158 new cases – chief health officer Dr John Gerrard revealed just 0.6 per cent of those queuing for day five tests were testing positive.
“It was not contributing in any way to the safety of Queenslanders.”
The data was from
25,000 dayfive tests in the southeast this past week. People entering still need to show a negative test result within 72 hours.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard – who on Monday called not allowing quicker Rapid Antigen tests “passive aggressive stupidity” – encouraged Ms Palaszczuk in the “strongest possible terms” to change its “illogical” rules for travellers
“It’s time PCR tests for tourism testing were dropped. Rapid antigen tests make more sense for people about to cross the border,” he said.
Mayor Tom Tate applauded scrapping the five-day test as “great news” but added: “There has been a lot of damage done to our city’s credibility as a welcoming destination. Many people feel by doing the right thing and getting double, or even triple, vaccinated meant they would’ve enjoyed a great degree of freedom. Now the fiveday PCR rule has been axed, I’m confident we can restore faith in our tourism sector and hospitality providers. It’ll take time but we’ll get there.”
He said living with Covid was “about accepting the virus must spread before we arrive at a state of normality”.
“I applaud the Premier and know the tourism and business sectors will be delighted.
“Covid is here which is what was always going to occur once tight border restrictions were lifted.”
He reiterated all restrictions, including a 72-hour test pre-arrival should be dumped once at 90 per cent vaccinated.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath (left) said travellers filling out online border passes would still have to say on the form they agreed to doing a day-five test until the form was updated. Police would ignore the form question at the border until it updated.
She reiterated the state was looking at moving to rapid antigen tests from January 1 but warned an adequate supply of the DIY kits was needed.
“To say you don’t need to line up for PCR test in NSW and Victoria – and then people find they can’t get access to a RAT test – that’s not going to fix the problem,” she said.
“We are less than four per cent away from hitting 90 per cent double dose where a PCR test would not be required.”
The government backdown came an hour after the Bulletin asked Ms Palaszczuk if she would dump the PCR tests – and how many interstate travellers she’d expected after earlier this week saying no one estimated 400,000 would apply to come”. Her office said to wait for Ms D’Ath’s Covid update.
Destination Gold Coast CEO Patricia O’Callaghan called removal of the test “great news for tourism” and said it would bolster confidence of travellers.
“It means travellers can come from interstate and will have more time to spend in our world-class attractions than waiting for test results,” she said. “It is a positive result for the industry which is already seeing our visitor numbers holding strong.”
Hotel occupancy was at 80 per cent heading into new year and at 65 per cent until the end of January, she said.
Ms O’Callaghan said the industry would recover from the Covid testing situation hit.
“We’re still not at preCovid levels and have a long road ahead of us.”
Any review of the three-day test rule and framework “would be welcome – the less barriers we have to entry and people experiencing the Coast, the better for the economy.”
Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said they were still seeing travellers at the border without a negative test result.