The Queensland Government has reported two new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total case number to 1076.
The confirmed cases were detected in hotel quarantine and are not considered to be a risk to the public. There are now five active cases in Queensland.
Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said that as the COVID-19 situation continues to unfold in Victoria and New South Wales, it’s important to ensure people are keeping their distance from each other.
Dr Young today announced that Queensland will re-instate the restriction on venues to ensure all patrons are seated while drinking and eating from today to keep the state safe.
“When you are out there enjoying yourself, I completely understand that it’s really hard to maintain your social distance – keeping 1.5m from each other is not normal and a really hard thing to do,” Dr Young said.
“Re-instating this restriction, which requires everyone in a bar or restaurant to be seated while eating and drinking, sends a really clear message to people to keep their distance from one another, which is much easier to do when you are seated than when you are standing up.”
Dr Young asked the community to be mindful of these changes, as the state continues to enjoy a lift on the various restrictions implemented early on in the global pandemic.
“Thanks to the low number of cases in Queensland we’ve been able to ease restrictions earlier,” Dr Young said.
“However, this means more and more people are socialising and mixing, which leaves us vulnerable and increases the risk of COVID-19 spreading.
“Everyone must continue to social distance, but I understand that in some settings it is more difficult than others.
“We’ve seen what’s happening in New South Wales and Victoria and how quickly the situation can escalate from just a few cases and we need to be as prepared as we can be in Queensland.”
