Queensland has recorded 10,953 new COVID-19 cases as authorities urge people to work from home and consider delaying the return of children to primary school.
The new cases emerged after 36,492 tests in the 24 hours to 6.30am on Friday, taking the total number of active cases in the state to more than 50,000.
There are 327 patients in hospital, with 14 in intensive care including three on ventilation.
A further 24,843 people are being treated at home and many more are self-isolating as close contacts.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has urged people to work from home if they are able, with public servants already ordered to do so.
"Can I stress to employers if you do not need people working in the city at the moment, please work from home," she told reporters on Friday.
"This will help slow down this wave, but I don't think this message has been getting out very clearly to employees."
The premier also said the return of primary school will be delayed if the current wave is peaking when children are due to resume classes in three weeks' time.
She said modelling is under way and children - many of whom will be unvaccinated - won't be put at further risk.
"We will give you more concrete decisions on this over the coming days. But I just want to assure parents that is definitely not on the agenda - just sending primary school children unvaccinated to school if we are in the peak of this wave," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"This is a commonsense measure."
The surging cases, which follow from the 10,332 reported on Thursday, come as testing capacity is pushed to the brink and authorities warn many undetected infections are likely to be circulating.
The unexpected closure of private PCR testing hubs due to staffing issues related to virus cases and close contact isolation rules, and a slowdown in analysis speed after high demand is weighing on capacity.
Authorities are working to secure more supplies of rapid home tests, with more than 220,000 distributed to health clinics already and another 1.3 million expected by this time next week.
"I've also had reports that they are back on the shelves in some supermarkets. I know they are going very quickly," Ms Palaszczuk said.
Queensland has removed a requirement for truck drivers to provide a negative PCR test to enter the state as authorities work to keep supplies on the shelves and maintain the essential workforce.
"This is a very difficult time for Queensland ... probably the likes that we haven't seen before," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"This is going to be a short, sharp wave, but it is going to really test the resilience of this state."
As vulnerable groups are told to stay at home with case numbers tracking towards a peak in coming weeks, Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said there were no plans to reimpose density limits.
"We're not going to stop the spread of this virus, all we're trying to do is to slow it down a little bit so it doesn't overwhelm the hospitals and it gives more people an opportunity to get a third (vaccine) dose," he said.
For density limits to be effective, they would need to be "very draconian", Dr Gerrard said.
"(A) one person per two square metre limit is not much of a limit," he said.
The state's double dose vaccination rate is now at 87.26 per cent of eligible people, with at least 90.93 per cent having received one jab.
