A ‘Wear a Mask’ sign is seen on a mostly-empty city street during morning commute hours on the first day of a seven-day lockdown as the state of Victoria looks to curb the spread of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Melbourne, Australia, May 28, 2021. REUTERS FILE PHOTO
SYDNEY — Two Australian states are on COVID-19 alert after an infected woman and her husband traveled from Victoria, the epicenter of country’s latest outbreak, through the states of New South Wales and into Queensland, visiting dozens of sites enroute.
Authorities in New South Wales and Queensland are rushing to trace close contacts and locate virus hotspots. The couple may face criminal charges for breaching COVID-19 border restrictions.
The 44-year-old woman tested positive for COVID-19 once in Queensland, authorities said late on Wednesday, and her husband has since tested positive.
Queensland state Health Minister Yvette D’Ath told reporters in Brisbane on Thursday that the couple’s tests suggested they were likely at the end of their infectious period.
“This means the risk is lower than we were expecting yesterday, which is really positive news,” D’Ath said. No other cases were reported from the state.
Australia has largely contained all prior outbreaks through snap lockdowns, regional border controls and swift contact tracing, with just over 30,200 cases and 910 deaths since the pandemic began. It has reported zero cases most days this year.
Queensland authorities said they were investigating if the couple, who drove from Melbourne, had a travel exemption to enter the state, despite their home state of Victoria being under a hard lockdown.
Queensland has issued alerts for parts of Sunshine Coast, a popular tourist spot, and two regional areas.
NSW authorities said the pair traveled mostly through regional towns over five days last week.
“The message broadly to our regional communities is be on high alert, this is a real and present danger to us, having people who are positive, traveling through our state stopping at multiple venues puts our state at risk,” NSW state Health Minister Brad Hazzard said.
NSW, the country’s most populous state, has not reported any locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in more than a month, while Queensland last reported cases in late March.
Melbourne lockdown
On Thursday, Victoria reported four new locally acquired cases, versus one case a day earlier, taking the total infections in the latest outbreak to 90.
The new cases, all from the same household, come as Melbourne prepares to come out of a two-week lockdown on Thursday night, although some curbs on travel and gatherings remain.
Melbourne’s five million residents must stay within 25 kms (15 miles) of their homes, a move that could inflict more pain on businesses in rural areas as officials seek to limit community transmission during an upcoming long weekend.
Though Thursday’s cases are not linked to any other clusters in the latest outbreak, the lifting of lockdown in Melbourne will proceed due to low-risk levels, Victoria state Acting Premier James Merlino said during a televised media conference.
Separately, New Zealand authorities have moved three Melbourne residents into managed isolation after they boarded their flight from Sydney to beat a travel ban imposed in response to the Victoria outbreak, New Zealand media reported.
New Zealand began quarantine-free travel for Australian travelers in April, a pandemic milestone, but paused the so-called “travel bubble” with Victoria late last month.