A Brisbane cleaner who worked in a quarantine hotel has the highly infectious UK variant of COVID-19, prompting a lockdown of the aged care sector across the greater Brisbane area.
Earlier, a Queensland virologist warned the United Kingdom's decision to extend the time between the two doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from three weeks to 12 could compromise the effectiveness of the vaccine across the globe.
Thursday's blog has now closed but you can catch up on the day's news below:
- A Brisbane hotel quarantine cleaner who contracted coronavirus has been confirmed to have the highly infectious UK variant
- Visits to Brisbane aged care homes have been locked down amid news of the positive case in the community
- National Cabinet will meet on Friday and is expected to recommend pre-flight rapid testing for all passengers from the UK
- Australia's vaccine rollout has been moved forward to late February for those in the first phase, using the Pfizer vaccine
- The WA coronavirus patient at the centre of PPE protocol breaches has the UK strain
- The UK's extended vaccine rollout between the first and second dose risks creating a vaccine-resistant strain, a virologist has warned
- Melbourne's mystery COVID case from Wednesday has now been linked to Sydney's northern beaches
