Extension of South East Queensland Hotspot for Commonwealth Support

Department of Health

Extension of the South East Queensland Hotspot for Commonwealth Support

The Acting Australian Government Chief Medical Officer, Professor Michael Kidd, has today extended the City of Brisbane, Moreton Bay Region, Redland City, Logan City, City of Ipswich, Shire of Noosa, City of Gold Coast, Lockyer Valley Region, Scenic Rim Region, Somerset Region and Sunshine Coast Region LGAs Hotspot for the purposes of Commonwealth support, to 11:59pm on 8 August 2021.

Today, Queensland has announced the occurrence of thirteen new locally acquired cases. All cases are associated with the cluster first detected in a high school student on 29 July 2021. Though whole genome sequencing has linked this case to two passengers who arrived in Australia on 29 June, it is still unknown how the high school student became infected.

The cases have been infectious whilst in the community, with the number of exposure sites listed on Queensland’s website continuing to grow, and includes sites in health facilities, schools, a university and stores within a shopping centre. Accordingly, the Acting Australian Government Chief Medical Officer has extended the Hotspot until 11:59pm on 8 August 2021, with further review on or before this date.

Professor Kidd reminds the community of the increased risk of the highly transmissible Delta variant and requests that they continue to follow the directions of Queensland Health.

Declaring a hotspot for Commonwealth support triggers, if required:

  • Provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) from the National Medical Stockpile
  • Actions for aged care facilities including PPE, single site workforce supplement and integration of an aged care response centre into the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre
  • Assistance with contact tracing, if requested
  • Asymptomatic testing via General Practitioner led Respiratory Clinics
  • Reprioritisation of vaccine supplies, if required
  • Access to COVID-19 Disaster Payment, if eligibility criteria are met
  • Two Medicare Benefits Schedule items for telehealth consultations for patients in COVID-19 hotspots
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