Restrictions on gatherings and visitor bans at aged care homes have been lifted in some parts of Queensland after another day of zero new coronavirus cases.
Health Minister Steven Miles said the easing of restrictions applied for the Darling Downs, west of Brisbane, and the Gold Coast health areas.
Gatherings of up to 30 people, instead of 10, indoors and outdoor will now be allowed within the two areas.
Furthermore, an order for mandatory extra personal protection equipment in hospitals in those areas has also been lifted, but hospitals may still opt for increased measures.
Mr Miles thanked the families and grandparents who had been separated by the aged care home visitor ban for their sacrifices.
Coronavirus measures — restricting gatherings to 10 people and limiting aged care visits — remain in place for the Greater Brisbane area and West Moreton areas.
Mr Miles said another day of zero new cases meant the state had gone four days without a case connected to the recent COVID clusters in the south east.
« We are getting on top of those clusters on the south side of Brisbane the Ipswich area, » he said.
« In my briefing this morning with the Chief Health Officer she indicated she had received further genome sequencing of all of the cases related to the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre, West Moreton Health Service and the Correctional Academy, and that all of them are confirmed to be very, very closely related. »
Mr Miles said health authorities were buoyed by a rebound in the testing rate, of 6,424 people in the past 24 hours.
Despite the favourable case numbers, Mr Miles said no decision had been made on lifting border restrictions, cutting off visitors from the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
« I understand it’s now about 65 days since ACT has had a case and so we’ll take that into account when we make our decision about the borders, which we’ve said all year we do at the end of each month.
« And we’ll have more to say about it between now and the end of the month.
« The ACT is complicated because of that fact that it is surrounded by New South Wales, but we will work through those issues. »
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she would speak with the ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr about her border concerns, before the end of September.
« We had concerns about lack of ID and we will look at that very closely to see what provisions can be put in place for the ACT, » she said.
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SOURCE: https://www.w24news.com
