COVID-19: Greater Brisbane to go into 3 day of lockdown from 6 pm tonight, Friday 8 January

The potential for community transmission of the more contagious UK version of the coronavirus is the impetus for the lockdown.

A hotel cleaner at a quarantined hotel has now been confirmed as the first detected case in the community in Australia. This means the disease has jumped from a returning traveller in a quarantined hotel into the community.

We are going to go early and go hard”

Queensland Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk

If you need to get back to Queensland – then book a flight now, because there ain’t likely to be any flights after 6pm tonight!

This lockdown will cover Brisbane – Metro North, Metro South and West Moreton Hospital and Health Services, and include the council areas of Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, Moreton Bay, and Redlands. All residents will be required to stay home, with the Premier suggesting that Queenslanders regard it as a ‘long weekend’.

Lockdown starts at 6pm AEST tonight, Friday 8 January, and will last until 6pm AEST Monday, 11 January.

As well as the one community transmission case, Queensland recorded 9 positive cases in hotel quarantine. The state recorded 13,000 tests.

Flights

Qantas and Virgin Australia are still scheduling flights today. Virgin flights from Sydney all arrive well before the lockdown.

Qantas still has a few that arrive after the lockdown time.

I’d be booking at the first opportunity!

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

On health grounds this is fast, necessary and decisive action, and we should expect an extension to the lockdown if more cases of community transmission are reported in the lockdown period.

In spite of my slight schadenfreude at the superiority Queensland has displayed regarding its long history of no community transmission, I know this will be devastating for the states tourism industry, although a minor impost on the communities affected.

For all our sakes, I hope the 3 days will be enough, and that any community transmission from the unfortunate hotel cleaner has been nipped in the bud.