On this day one year ago, the Gold Coast recorded its first confirmed case of coronavirus.
A 44-year-old man from Hubei province in China tested positive after arriving on a flight from Melbourne.
A day later, the State Government declared a public health emergency and introduced a series of new laws and restrictions that eventually led to lockdown.
"At that stage this was still an incredibly new virus and the chances that we would see a case here seemed very remote," Gold Coast University Hospital's director of infectious diseases John Gerrard said.
The Gold Coast became a regular fixture in coronavirus coverage, with US actor Tom Hanks testing positive in March and the city's usually tourist-riddled beaches being closed in April.
Anxiety soared and the economy stalled, but not a single person died from COVID-19 on the Gold Coast.
Something 'sinister' going on
Dr Gerrard said health authorities had been on the alert since early January 2020 after the World Health Organisation warned of a then-mystery virus in Wuhan.
"An extraordinary thing happened, whereby we saw cases almost simultaneously over a seven-day period in the Gold Coast, Melbourne and Sydney," he said.
"[It] suggested that there was something far more serious and sinister going on."
The hospital set up a dedicated isolation unit designed for viral outbreaks and Dr Gerrard began to "map out different scenarios" for the potential spread.
"There is probably no other city of a comparable size in the world – 600,000 people – that has seen not a single death from COVID-19 to date," he said.
"It's a tribute to the combined response — nationally, at state level, at local level."
'This is not over'
Six coronavirus-related deaths have been recorded in Queensland and more than 1.7 million tests have been conducted.
Dr Gerrard said health workers should be "extremely proud" of the Gold Coast's record and that the Federal Government's decision to close borders relatively early in the pandemic "was critical".
"We have an outstanding public health response and public health set up not seen in other parts of the world," he said.
"You only have to compare our response in Australia with the response we've seen in other parts of the western world to realise how well prepared we are."
But Dr Gerrard said it was "way too early to be too self-congratulatory", with mass vaccinations the next important step.
"This is not over," he said.
"We're sitting on a tinderbox — all it would take is one or two people to come into the country, particularly with one of these new variant strains, and the virus could spread."
Vaccine preparations made
Dr Gerrard said Gold Coast University Hospital has a refrigeration system capable of storing the Pfizer vaccine at the required -70 degrees Celsius.
"We already have our COVID-19 immunisation centre set up at the hospital to deliver the Pfizer vaccine," he said.
The phased rollout of vaccinations – starting with quarantine, aged care and hospital workers – is due to begin in February.
"I cannot tell you how excited we are," Dr Gerrard said.
"We are geared up and ready to start vaccinating".
