September 3, 2020
Two new cases of COVID-19 in Queensland were confirmed by Health Minister Dr Steven Miles on Thursday morning.
Dr Miles said the two cases – a man and a woman aged between 30-39 years – were linked, and were also believed to be connected to the Youth Detention Centre / Corrections Training Academy cluster – although that was still being investigated.
One of the new cases works at the Karinya Place aged care home at Laidley.
Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young said the risk at the facility was low as the infected person did not work directly with residents.
Residents and staff at the facility are now undergoing testing.
“It is now close to two weeks since that first case was reported at the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre,” Dr Miles said.
“We continue to see small numbers of cases generally amongst those who’ve had contact with other confirmed cases.
“And that’s really promising. It suggests that our efforts – that our rapid response – is working.”
There are now 30 active cases in Queensland, including 18 people in hospital; 14,273 tests were carried out during the past 24 hours.
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Viral fragments of COVID-19 have been detected in a sample from the Cannonvale-Airlie Beach sewage treatment plant.
The sample was taken as part of a joint Queensland Health, University of Queensland and CSIRO pilot research program.
Sampling has been taking place at several locations across Queensland since mid-July: in Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Hervey Bay, Mackay, Cannonvale-Airlie Beach, Townsville and Cairns.
Dr Young said the surveillance program was just one part of a wider response to COVID-19 and the positive sample should be of no concern to the community.
“But just to put everyone’s minds at ease, we have stood up a pop-up testing clinic at the Airlie Beach Lagoon carpark until Sunday from 10:00am to 4:00pm.
“If anyone has COVID-19 symptoms, no matter how mild, they should go and get tested.
“A positive sewage result meant that someone who has been infected was shedding the virus.
“Infected people can shed viral fragments and that shedding can happen for several weeks after the person is no longer infectious. The viral fragments themselves are not infectious.”
