Coronavirus: New Covid case in Brisbane could be 'missing link'
Queensland has recorded one new case of coronavirus through community transmission.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters on Sunday a man has tested positive to Covid-19. He is a close contact of a previously confirmed case and has largely shed the virus.
There was also two new cases confirmed in hotel quarantine on Sunday, with 71 total active cases now in the state.
Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young added Sunday's case is the brother of Thursday's case and could be the "missing link" after the recent positive was linked to the Princess Alexandra Hospital cluster which emerged on March 12.
"He is probably the person responsible for the transmission," Dr Young said, adding that he is showing no symptoms of Covid-19.
"We won’t be able to do any genomic sequencing on him because he doesn’t have any active virus in him,” she said.
"Remembering we won’t have absolute proof about this new case because he doesn’t have any virus that we can sequence but it is highly likely," Young said.
“I mean, the coincidences are so strong, he is the brother of one of these cases."
The positive case was detected out of more than 11,300 tests.
Police clarify Covid case's 'house party'
Queensland Health said on Saturday one of the cases hosted a party for 25 people.
The department added this happened after he had been told to isolate following his test.
But on Sunday, Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said the man did not host a party and there was on evidence he had committed an offence.
Dep Comm Gollschewski added the man had five people over to his Strathpine home but it's also possible some of the group actually live at the property.
"The matter is subject to further inquiries and we're not seeing any evidence of any offences," he said.
He told media and the public to "tone down your language" about the alleged incident.
Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said health officials spoke with the man and the initial understanding was he had 25 people over.
“That is what the health officials who originally spoke to this gentleman, when they first picked him up, that is what they understood had been said and that had to be acted on quickly,” Ms D’Ath said.
“And the police have independently investigated and of course, the gentleman has been cooperative with all of the contact tracing and it has been clarified that the people who were there were predominantly residents.”
Will Queensland go into lockdown?
The premier on Saturday said she is "comfortable" with the state's current approach to Covid-19 and did not anticipate any lockdowns.
Dr Young was asked why Queensland did not copy its "circuit-breaker" approach from earlier this year when the same UK strain was discovered in the community.
“The reason we locked down was because that was the very, very first case of B117, this very contagious variant in the country, and we just did not quite understand it and know what we needed to do,” Dr Young said.
“This time, we've been dealing with this virus now for a long time and we've been dealing with these variants, so I think we have a little bit more time that we can work out what is going on but it is really, really important that people take all those precautions,” she said.
She said it is important people continue wearing masks in indoor environments and maintained social distancing.
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