March 29, 2020

Queensland Health confirmed on Sunday there are 31 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the State since Saturday, raising the total to 656.

Contact tracing for these new cases is under way.

A Queensland Health spokesperson said the majority were patients who had travelled overseas, or have had direct contact with a confirmed case who had travelled overseas.

The spokesperson also confirmed that a 75-year-old woman – a former passenger on the Ruby Princess cruise ship – had died in Caboolture Hospital.

Queensland Health said the woman had underlying medical problems.

In the Darling Downs Health region, there are now 24 confirmed cases – up three from Saturday.

In the Wide Bay Health region,  there is just one more case, taking the total to 17.

The health regions with the largest number of cases continue to be Metro North (180), Metro South (163), Gold Coast (121) and Sunshine Coast (70).

Nationally, 16 people have now died from COVID-19.

As at 6:00am on Sunday, there were 3809 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia, up 431 since 6:00am on Saturday.

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Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young has enacted more new restrictions in a bid to slow the spread of the virus.

Queenslanders can now no longer have more than 10 people in their house at any one time, excluding households where more than 10 people ordinarily reside.

Dr Young asked all Queenslanders to limit visiting others in their home and to consider other ways of keeping in touch, such as phone calls.

“We need everyone to stay in their own home where possible and ensure social distancing at all times. Unfortunately this no longer means you can invite your friends over,” Dr Young said.

“We understand how important social contact with friends and family is but we need to do everything we can to slow down the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and this means limiting the number of people in each household to a maximum of 10.”

Dr Young said this did not apply to households where more than 10 people ordinarily reside.

“For example, if 12 people live in one household, they can be there at the same time, but no visitors are allowed,” Dr Young said.

The restrictions came into effect on midnight on Friday (March 27) until further notice.

People who do not comply with this direction can be fined.

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Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (Photo: Twitter)

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has confirmed the Department of Health is proactively exploring options for setting up plans for temporary hospitals statewide in vacant hotels, convention centres and possibly mining camps to treat COVID-19 patients if there is an overflow from hospitals.

In Brisbane, the RNA Convention Centre could quickly be transformed to take patients and it would be a case of history repeating – the RNA showground was used as a treatment centre for patients during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic.

Some hotels, particularly near Queensland’s major hospitals throughout the State have also been approached about providing bed space.

“I hope it doesn’t come to this – I really do – but the coronavirus pandemic is upon us now and our hospitals and medical staff over the coming months could be under enormous strain,” the Premier said.

“Preparations to set-up extra facilities and off-site hospitals are simply a necessity.

“They would contain and treat people who have contracted the COVID-19 virus and who may have minor difficulties but don’t require intensive care.

“It is imperative we prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed all at once.”

The Premier also emphasised that people who are told to self-isolate, must follow the instructions.

“People who defy the need to self-isolate face fines of up to $13,345 and police won’t hesitate to act,” she said.

“Once again, I appeal to Queenslanders to stay home and take every precaution to ensure that our health facilities are not overwhelmed.”

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Since last Monday, police have conducted more than 2023 non-essential business compliance checks across Queensland.

If a person does not comply with the quarantine directions, penalties of up to $13,345 for individuals and $66,672.50 for corporations may apply.

Police can also issue on-the-spot fines of $1334.50 for individuals and $6672.50 for corporations which fail to abide by the health directions.

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The Australian Defence Force has deployed teams across the country to work in partnership with State and Territory police to conduct COVID-19 quarantine compliance checks.

The ADF will provide logistics support for police as they enforce mandatory quarantine and isolation measures.

In NSW, more than 30 personnel will support police at Sydney Airport, with at least another 40 supporting the quarantine of six separate hotels.

In Queensland, around a dozen have deployed to Brisbane and Cairns airports. Another dozen are supporting the quarantine of a hotel in Cairns.

Fifty ADF personnel have been approved to deploy in Western Australia to support quarantine measures for new arrivals.

As of Sunday, about 350 ADF personnel are supporting state and territory authorities.


 

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