Queensland has one new locally-acquired COVID-19 case but Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young says there is no risk to the community.

April 3, 2021

Queensland has one new case of locally-acquired COVID-19 after a man visited a Gold Coast brewery.

Meanwhile, a Brisbane hospital’s coronavirus ward has been shut down as health authorities investigate how two of its patients became infected.

The brewery patron was in quarantine when he fell ill and not infectious in the community, Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said on Saturday.

“That’s perfect. He’s been in quarantine for his entire infectious period, so there is no risk here at all,” she told reporters.

Dr Young said the man was at Black Hops Brewery in Burleigh Heads on March 20 before being ordered into quarantine seven days later by health workers.

“He tested negative on March 27 and then he’s become unwell and has now tested positive,” she said.

Dr Young urged people to continue checking the Queensland Health COVID-19 website for updates on contact sites after a historical case was identified on Friday – a nurse contracted the virus from a man who arrived from Europe last month.

The traveller, who became a patient at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, has now been labelled the superspreader who infected a doctor that sparked the latest Queensland outbreak.

The nurse was the missing link in the first cluster and was infectious between March 10 and 23 but didn’t develop symptoms.

“We’re asking anyone who attended a venue she was at to please come forward and get tested, and also anyone in their household,” Dr Young said.

Another patient who stayed in the same hospital ward as the traveller also became infected with the virus, leading health officials to believe there could be a “problem with the environment”.

“It could be coincidental but it is suspicious that both of those patients were being managed in the same room one after the other,” Dr Young said.

COVID infected patients have been moved from ward 5D, with most also transferred from the hospital.

Dr Young said the nurse, who spread coronavirus to her partner, was not initially tested for the virus as contact tracers were focused on the doctor.

Testing requirements have now been expanded to include all visitors, patients and staff members who have been in ward 5D since the outbreak occurred.

“I’ve brought in a policy that all workers in contact with positive COVID cases must be tested every shift, no different to the hotels,” she said.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath confirmed the state received 25,000 doses or two weeks’ worth of the Pfizer vaccine from federal authorities on Thursday after officials raised concerns that stocks had dwindled to only three days’ worth.

“We’ve been advised that will have to last us the next two weeks, remembering we’ve done over 21,000 vaccinations in the past week,” she said.

Ms D’Ath said most would be used for second doses of the vaccine, not new vaccinations, and supply was preventing the rollout from happening more quickly.

Two overseas travellers were diagnosed with the virus in hotel quarantine on Saturday. There are 74 active cases across the state.

Health restrictions are expected to remain for the next fortnight. They include wearing a mask indoors in public, a 30-person limit on private gatherings and restrictions on visits to hospitals, prisons and aged-care and disability facilities.