Brisbane lockdown will end, masks to stay
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Jan 12, 2021
Restrictions for impacted areas of Greater Brisbane will be eased from 6:00 pm today and ACT residents now in the Greater Brisbane area will need to follow the Queensland Health advice, including wearing a mask for a further 10 days.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has today announced that the 3-day lockdown for the Greater Brisbane area will end at 6pm on Monday night, in a huge win for Queenslanders.
All restrictions will be in place until at least 1am January 22.
Here is your cheat sheet for the next 10 days.
The case was the husband of a cleaner who contracted the virus from hotel quarantine, sparking a three-day lockdown in Greater Brisbane which ended 6pm Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Josh Woning.
"You need to wear this mask in shopping centres, supermarkets, retail outlets and indoor markets. But if you are going to go up and get some food and come back to your seats, you will need to wear a mask as well".
"Our initiative that we are putting in place with masks is very similar to Victoria and New South Wales where we will be mandating the wearing of masks in certain places, particularly public indoor areas", Queensland health minister Yvette D'Ath said. People working outside, like construction workers, don't need to wear a mask. Workplace health and safety rules override the direction to wear a mask.
The masks must be carried at all times, but are not needed to be worn outdoors at a safe distance from other people.
Existing tickets to be refunded by Cricket Australia and new ticketing arrangements put in place by CA to enable social distancing of spectators.
They'll also be required to wear them while travelling on public transport and in taxis and ride shares such as Uber. So if you visit the Gold Coast for the day, you will need to mask up if you go shopping or are in close proximity to others.
Private gatherings can have up to 20 people in homes and public spaces. That's including all members of the household. Patrons must be seated when eating and drinking, and dancing is not allowed. Weddings can have up to 100 people (no restriction on dancing). Isn't the incubation period two weeks?
Dr Young said she was still concerned there may be some contacts of a hotel quarantine cleaner who tested positive on January 6 who had not come forward.
"Just remember the incubation period is 14 days, and there is no evidence that the incubation period for this new variant is any different", she said.
Four new cases were found in hotel quarantine.
On Monday, the ACT government lifted quarantine requirements for people who had visited Greater Brisbane, allowing Canberra players and staff to leave self-isolation. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dan Peled.
'What needs to happen now, is to know how we can prevent any future immediate shutdowns to avoid this uncertainty again, ' Ms Rohan said.
Ms Palaszczuk also said she was "absolutely relieved" to have three days of no community transmission in Queensland but warned the highly contagious United Kingdom variant was "a whole new ballgame".