Fears grow Brisbane lockdown will be extended over Easter
Concern continues to grow that Brisbane's three-day lockdown could be extended over Easter as Queensland health authorities scramble to contain two coronavirus clusters.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the state should expect further cases after an additional eight locally acquired cases were confirmed on Tuesday.
Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young has also hinted the lockdown could spread further across the state as the threat of infection further afield increases.
"The message here is that people should be on alert, no matter where they are in Queensland," Dr Young said.
One known case lives on the Gold Coast and others have visited Toowoomba, Gladstone, Hervey Bay and Gin Gin while infectious.
On Tuesday evening, Queensland Health added nine Gold Coast locations to a list of potential exposure sites which has now grown to more than 80 locations statewide.
Included were a Surf Life Saving competition at Tugun and the popular Bundall Farmers' Market at the Home of the Arts, both on Sunday.
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Current stay-at-home orders are in place until 5pm on Thursday and will be reviewed on Wednesday.
Ms Palaszczuk said the 48-hour period leading up to that was "critical for our contact tracers to get on top of this".
She said contact tracers were now in "overdrive".
Griffith University infectious disease expert Nigel McMillan told the Courier Mail he believed the lockdown would be extended by at least two more days if similar figures to Tuesday were revealed.
And NSW remains on high-alert as one of the clusters centres around a nurse and six others who travelled to Byron Bay for a hen's party, visiting several venues.
Hospital locks down for second time
Queensland Health on Tuesday evening confirmed the Princess Alexandra Hospital would be locked down for the second time in a month.
"This additional lockdown will enable PA Hospital to put in place processes to manage impacts associated with these linked cases," an official said.
The hospital will continue to test all staff that have worked in the Covid-19 ward since March 19.
The nearby Mater Mothers' Hospital has also sent home staff - including midwives and doctors - after a recent visitor tested positive to the virus, according to the ABC.
The person visited the private maternity section and a nearby coffee shop popular with staff.
One of the clusters relates to a doctor at the Princess Alexandra Hospital who contracted the virus earlier this month after treating a confirmed case.
The second cluster began with the nurse who travelled to Byron Bay, and she works at the same hospital however it is not known yet how she acquired the virus.
She was not vaccinated while working at the hospital where she dealt with Covid patients.
With AAP
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