Covid: Brisbane to enter three-day lockdown over single infection

The Australian city of Brisbane will enter a snap three-day lockdown after a cleaner in its hotel quarantine system became infected with coronavirus.

Queensland state officials said the cleaner had the highly transmissible UK variant and there were fears it could spread to others.

Brisbane has seen very few cases of the virus beyond quarantined travellers since Australia’s first wave last year.

The lockdown is for five populous council areas in the state capital.

State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the measure on Friday morning local time, about 16 hours after the woman tested positive.

Ms Palaszczuk said the lockdown aimed to halt the virus as rapidly as possible, adding: “Doing three days now could avoid doing 30 days in the future.”

“I think everybody in Queensland… knows what we are seeing in the UK and other places around the world is high rates of infection from this particular strain,” she said.

“And we do not want to see that happening here in our great state.”

The lockdown will begin at 18:00 on Friday (08:00 GMT) in the Brisbane city, Logan, Ipswich, Moreton and Redlands local government areas.

Residents will only be allowed to leave home for certain reasons, such as buying essential items and seeking medical care.

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For the first time in Queensland, residents in those areas will also be required to wear masks outside of their homes.

Australia has reported 28,500 coronavirus infections and 909 deaths since the pandemic began. By contrast, the US, which is the hardest-hit country, has recorded more than 21 million infections and nearly 362,000 people have died with the disease.

Australia has faced recent outbreaks in New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, but both states recorded zero new local cases on Thursday. NSW had four local infections on Friday, however.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government has pledged to start mass vaccinations in February instead of March as was planned.