Queensland coronavirus health restrictions limiting people gathering are set to be extended to the Gold Coast as Schoolies Week is cancelled.

August 29, 2020

Queensland coronavirus health restrictions on the number of people who can gather are set to be extended to the Gold Coast.

No more than 10 people can gather in Brisbane, Ipswich and Logan without a COVID-19 safety plan, following an outbreak at a youth detention centre.

That will be extended south to the Gold Coast from 8am Saturday after two Pimpama residents linked to the cluster were diagnosed with the virus.

It comes a day after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced Schoolies Week had been cancelled less than three months before it was scheduled to begin.

“This is a mass event. It poses a high risk,” she told reporters.

Concerts and large parties will be banned, with limits on gatherings at beaches and apartment complexes.

“It’s a tough year for everyone. Hopefully, things will get better by the end of next year and we can have a double celebration,” she said.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said he backed the decision but conceded it would be tough on local businesses, such as accommodation providers.

“There will be costs in their business operations and I sympathise … because to get new business in 85 days is near impossible,” he said.

Mr Tate said the event should have been cancelled sooner and called on tourism promoters to encourage families to the region, to replace the students.

Three people were diagnosed with COVID-19 in Queensland on Friday, bringing the number of active cases to 20.

All are linked to the corrections training centre at Wacol, in Brisbane’s southwest, where a senior trainer was diagnosed with the virus on Thursday following the outbreak at the nearby youth facility.

Two of the infected people – a 33-year-old woman and a 37-year-old man – are corrective services recruits and contracted the virus in a dining room at the academy.

They live at Pimpama and are the first confirmed cases of community transmission on the Gold Coast.

Personal protective equipment requirements for hospitals, aged care facilities and disability service providers will also be extended to the region.