Q’land, NSW on alert

BRISBANE: Two Australian states are on Covid19 alert after an infected woman and her husband travelled from Victoria, the epicentre of country’s latest outbreak, through the states of New South Wales and into Queensland, visiting dozens of sites on the way.

Authorities in New South Wales and Queensland are rushing to trace close contacts and locate virus hot spots. The couple may face criminal charges for breaching Covid19 border restrictions.

The 44yearold woman tested positive for Covid19 once in Queensland, authorities said late on Wednesday, and her husband has since tested positive.

Queensland state Health Minister Yvette D'Ath told reporters in Brisbane yesterday that the couple's tests suggested they were likely at the end of their infectious period.

"This means the risk is lower than we were expecting yesterday, which is really positive news," D'Ath said. No other cases were reported from the state.

Queensland authorities said they were investigating if the couple, who drove from Melbourne, had a travel exemption to enter the state, despite their home state of Victoria being under a hard lockdown.

Queensland has issued alerts for parts of Sunshine Coast and two regional areas.

NSW authorities said the pair travelled mostly through regional towns over five days last week.

‘‘The message broadly to our regional communities is be on high alert, this is a real and present danger to us. Having people who are positive travelling through our state stopping at multiple venues puts our state at risk,’’ NSW state Health Minister Brad Hazzard said.

NSW has not reported any locally acquired cases of Covid19 in more than a month, while Queensland last reported cases in late March.

Yesterday, Victoria reported four new locally acquired cases, versus one case a day earlier, taking the total infections in the latest outbreak to 90.

The new cases, all from the same household, come as Melbourne prepared to come out of a twoweek lockdown last night, although some restrictions remain.

Melbourne's 5 million residents must stay within 25km of their homes, a move that could inflict more pain on businesses in rural areas as officials seek to limit community transmission during an upcoming long weekend.

Though yesterday's cases are not linked to any other clusters in the latest outbreak, the lifting of lockdown will proceed due to lowrisk levels, Victoria state Acting Premier James Merlino said. — Reuters