Woman taken off flight

Suspected link to COVID trio ends in quarantine

A WOMAN with suspected links to the Brisbane women who circulated in the community while sick after flying to Melbourne and lying about where they’d been has been pulled off a plane and quarantined.

There were fears the woman, who flew from Brisbane to Darwin, had links to 19-year-old Olivia Winnie Muranga and 21-year-olds Diana Lasu and Haja Timbo, who have contracted the virus.

It is also understood stolen credit cards were used at a

Flight Centre office to book plane tickets home for the women from Melbourne, where they allegedly engaged in criminal activity.

A 27-year-old Brisbane man from Bellbird Park contracted COVID-19 after dining at a restaurant in Brisbane’s south on July 23, at the same time as one of the women who’d returned from Melbourne.

The new case forced Bolton Clarke’s aged-care facility in Pinjarra Hills in Brisbane into lockdown on Friday, as two of the five people who dined with the 27-year-old at the restaurant recently worked there.

Queensland conducted more than 10,000 tests on Friday, and there were no further positive results. Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said an updated list of places visited by one of the women hadn’t been released as she had “mainly stayed at home”. She said she trusted the information.

“We have excellent police who have done a really good job all through this, we know police are very good at interviewing people who don’t necessarily want to tell the truth and we’ve checked that with supporting information from other travel companions so we’re pretty comfortable,” Dr Young said.

“But having said that we don’t know where this virus could be, so here we’ve got a gentlemen in Bellbird Park who’s suddenly popped up positive. At any point in Queensland today (Friday) we could have cases pop up, so that’s why the most important message is: if you’re sick, stay home and get tested.”

Police Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said police had high confidence they had all the information about where the trio had been.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was very comfortable with the rapid response undertaken since the women had returned to Queensland.

NSW health authorities said the women who had tested positive did not leave Sydney airport while transiting.

Ms Muranga and Ms Lasu hosted an illegal Airbnb party at a city apartment – while virus-riddled Melbourne was in hard lockdown – two days before allegedly lying to get back into Queensland.

On returning on July 21, via Sydney, the three Brisbane women allegedly lied about having been to Melbourne.

Queenslanders returning from Victoria must enter hotel quarantine for 14 days. The women have been charged with providing false or misleading documents and fraud.

A relative of Ms Lasu confirmed that family members, who are also confined to a Brisbane hotel, had tested negative to coronavirus.