Two travellers quarantining in a Cairns’ hotel have been diagnosed with COVID-19 after returning to Queensland from The Philippines and Papua New Guinea.

October 28, 2020

Queensland has recorded two new COVID-19 cases among returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine in Cairns.

One is a 45-year-old man who recently returned from The Philippines and the other is a woman in her 40s who had been in Papua New Guinea.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the state’s hotel quarantine system remained “incredibly effective”.

“We’ve not had a single case out of our hotel quarantine here in Queensland,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

Asked if the Queensland border with NSW will reopen at the end of the month, Dr Miles reiterated Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s comments a day earlier, saying the government was waiting on advice from Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young.

“Our intention is to provide as much notice as we possibly can,” he said.

“We’ll be discussing (the border with Dr Young) in the coming days and hope to make an announcement just as soon as the decision is made.”

Ms Palaszczuk called out NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian over her repeated comments about opening the border between the two states.

“I will not be lectured to by the Premier of NSW on what is right for Queensland. We listen to the chief health officer,” she said.

“People can try and play politics … but it’s no laughing matter. This is about people’s lives, and about people’s livelihoods.”

Queensland last recorded a coronavirus case on Friday, when two infected crew members from a cargo ship anchored off the Sunshine Coast were transferred to hospital.

The state has five active cases, while health workers completed 4529 tests in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning.

It has been 48 days since the last COVID-19 case was diagnosed in the community.