Coronavirus: Woman 'fined after 'lying' about Melbourne trip
One of three women at the centre of Brisbane’s coronavirus scandal has been fined $4000 as criminal investigations into how they arrived from Melbourne undetected are ongoing.
Queensland is bracing itself for an outbreak of community transmission after two 19-year-old women tested positive to COVID-19 after spending eight days in the community upon arriving from Victoria and failing to quarantine.
Another woman is also in quarantine after accompanying the teens on the trip, however has not yet tested positive for the virus.
Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said the women were in attendance at an illegal party of 20 to 30 people inside a Melbourne rental property during their stay.
One of the three women has been fined, a Queensland Police spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia, with criminal investigations into how they bypassed mandatory hotel quarantine despite returning from a declared hotspot are ongoing.
The women flew into Brisbane on July 21 via Sydney, where it is understood they avoided quarantine checks by staying in the same terminal.
Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll told reporters the trio allegedly deceived authorities in order to cross the border.
"I am very disappointed with them at this stage, they went to extraordinary lengths to be deceitful and deceptive and, quite frankly, criminal in their behaviour and it has put the community at risk," she said on Thursday.
All three women are still facing potential charges, with Queensland Police expected to announce an update later on Thursday.
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On Wednesday, a 22-year-old woman, who works at YMCA Chatswood Hills Outside School Hours Care, and is known to the teens became the state's first community transmission of COVID-19 in two months.
The 19-year-old teens, from Logan and Park Ridge – south of Brisbane, have now sparked a massive contact-tracing mission for Queensland Health as the state braces itself for further infections.
Passengers seated near the pair on flights VA863 and VA977 and are also being contacted by contact-tracing teams.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was seething at the breach of COVID-19 protocols as she announced the Queensland border would be shut to Greater Sydney from Saturday.
"I'm absolutely furious that this has happened," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"We need people to tell the truth... We do not want a second wave here. We do not want widespread community transmission.”
Teens visit multiple suburbs with virus
There are strong fears the two women may have become superspreaders in Brisbane’s south and the Logan area due to the high number of outings since returning to Queensland.
One of the teens is alleged to have continued visiting several public locations after getting a coronavirus test on Saturday, only to discover she tested positive on Tuesday, The Courier-Mail reported.
She worked at Parklands Christian College as a cleaner, which has now been closed, while the 22-year-old woman who has since tested positive worked in after-care at Chatswood Hills State School, which has also closed.
The teens attended a dental practice, five restaurants and bars, two at inner city’s South Bank, in six different suburbs, including South Brisbane, Woodridge, Browns Plains and Sunnybank.
Shopping centres, restaurants, a school and a church have been closed.
Police say one of the three women is not cooperating with police and refusing to inform investigators of where she has visited since returning.
The decision to stop visitors from Greater Sydney was a major blow for north of the state, Tourism Tropical North Queensland chief executive Mark Olsen said.
In the past three weeks alone they have had almost 10,000 airline passengers arrive in Cairns from Sydney and the latest travel tourism operators "are devastated" by the latest ban.
with AAP
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