A Queensland nursing home is in lockdown after a worker at the state-run Rockhampton facility tested positive for coronavirus, while passengers on a Brisbane-to-Sydney flight have been warned they may have come into contact with an infected traveller.
A rapid response team has been sent to the north Rockhampton centre after the nurse returned a positive test at 8pm on Thursday.
She had been working until very recently and there are fears for the health of 115 residents and 180 healthcare workers.
The state’s chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, said the nurse was suspected to have become infected during a trip to Brisbane.
“It is very, very concerning,” Young told reporters on Friday.
Queensland’s health minister, Stephen Miles, said the rapid response team was working to identify staff and residents who had been in contact with the infected nurse.
“They are rapidly testing a large number of people to identify whether anyone else has been affected,” he told reporters. “The centre is currently locked down and any staff in contact are in quarantine and have been tested.”
He said the last Rockhampton case of coronavirus was seven weeks ago, on 30 March, and the last active case was considered to be resolved on 1 May.
Passengers and crew on flight QF537 from Brisbane to Sydney on Tuesday 12 May have been alerted to monitor for Covid-19 symptoms and contact health authorities if they became sick after an overseas traveller on the flight tested positive.
The traveller had arrived in Brisbane and completed the mandatory 14-day quarantine period before boarding the flight, New South Wales Health said.
The person developed symptoms afterwards and NSW Health said it was “likely they were infectious on the flight to Sydney”.
The department said it was contact tracing all close contacts in NSW and on the flight to Sydney, and was working with other jurisdictions to identify any other close contacts.
The state recorded eight new cases on Friday. The Rockhampton case was one of only two new Covid-19 cases recorded in Queensland overnight.
