New case in Goondiwindi Cairns on alert as Qld rejects Doherty data

Queensland has recorded one new case of COVID-19 in Goondiwindi, while Cairns is again on alert after a woman who travelled from the city tested positive in the Northern Territory.

The Goondiwindi case, a woman in her 20s, was a close contact of one of the three people who tested positive in the border community this week.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said the case was in home quarantine when diagnosed but may have been active in the community for a day while infectious.

Acting Chief Health Officer Peter Aitken said there was no thought of putting Goondiwindi into lockdown.Credit:Matt Dennien

A relaxed acting Chief Health Officer Peter Aitken said Goondiwindi’s high vaccination rates and the fact the woman was a close contact of a known case meant there was no thought of placing the town under lockdown.

The Queensland cluster is linked to a larger outbreak south of the border in Moree. The town was declared a restricted border zone on Friday, meaning Queenslanders could only cross into the closely linked community under special circumstances.

Dr Aitken said it was too early to know if there were exposure sites in Cairns resulting from a local woman who tested positive after landing in the Northern Territory.

The woman, also in her 20s, was being interviewed on Saturday.

Ms D’Ath meanwhile knocked back new modelling from the Doherty Institute suggesting Queensland could safely manage international arrivals without them needing to quarantine once the state hit a double-dose rate of 80 per cent.

Under the current Queensland roadmap, international arrivals would “undertake a period of home quarantine” at 80 per cent. Only at 90 per cent would fully vaccinated arrivals be allowed into the state without quarantining.

“We’ve released our plan. We’re sticking to this plan,” Ms D’Ath said on Saturday morning.

The Doherty modelling predicted that at 80 per cent, and with “low” public health and social measures in place, “allowing international arrivals will not lead to large outbreaks and cases will be manageable, both in jurisdictions with established outbreaks and those with few or no local cases”.

“This remains the case for either a seven-day home quarantine or ‘no quarantine’ pathway,” it said.

Zach Hope is a reporter at Brisbane Times. Got a story? Email me at zach.hope@brisbanetimes.com.auConnect via email.

Share this post