Two Australian states on COVID-19 alert after infected woman’s interstate travel

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SYDNEY — Two Australian states are on COVID-19 alert after an contaminated girl and her husband traveled from Victoria, the epicenter of nation’s newest outbreak, via the states of New South Wales and into Queensland, visiting dozens of websites enroute.

Authorities in New South Wales and Queensland are speeding to hint shut contacts and find virus hotspots. The couple might face legal fees for breaching COVID-19 border restrictions.

The 44-year-old girl examined constructive for COVID-19 as soon as in Queensland, authorities stated late on Wednesday, and her husband has since examined constructive.

Queensland state Well being Minister Yvette D’Ath instructed reporters in Brisbane on Thursday that the couple’s assessments recommended they had been probably on the finish of their infectious interval.

“This implies the chance is decrease than we had been anticipating yesterday, which is admittedly constructive information,” D’Ath stated. No different instances had been reported from the state.

Australia has largely contained all prior outbreaks via snap lockdowns, regional border controls and swift contact tracing, with simply over 30,200 instances and 910 deaths because the pandemic started. It has reported zero instances most days this 12 months.

Queensland has issued alerts for elements of Sunshine Coast, a preferred vacationer spot, and two regional areas.

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NSW authorities stated the pair traveled principally via regional cities over 5 days final week.

“The message broadly to our regional communities is be on excessive alert, this can be a actual and current hazard to us, having people who find themselves constructive, touring via our state stopping at a number of venues places our state in danger,” NSW state Well being Minister Brad Hazzard stated.

NSW, the nation’s most populous state, has not reported any domestically acquired instances of COVID-19 in additional than a month, whereas Queensland final reported instances in late March.

Australia on Thursday additionally reported a 52-year-old girl died from severe blood clots with a low blood platelet depend after having the AstraZeneca vaccine, the second loss of life in Australia linked to the vaccine out of three.6 million doses given.

“We’re getting superb at diagnosing and treating this specific occasion. However on this specific case that was not profitable,” Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly instructed reporters.

The nation has now had a complete 35 confirmed and 13 possible instances of the uncommon facet impact. The AstraZeneca vaccine is really helpful just for folks over 50 in Australia.

The federal government on Thursday prolonged a ban on cruise ships coming into Australia to Sept. 17. The curb has been in place since March 2020, when cruise ships had been the supply of most of Australia’s early COVID-19 instances.

MELBOURNE LOCKDOWN

On Thursday, Victoria reported 4 new domestically acquired instances, versus one case a day earlier, taking the whole infections within the newest outbreak to 90.

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The brand new instances, all from the identical family, come as Melbourne prepares to come back out of a two-week lockdown on Thursday evening, though some curbs on journey and gatherings stay.

Melbourne’s 5 million residents should keep inside 25 kms (15 miles) of their houses, a transfer that would inflict extra ache on companies in rural areas as officers search to restrict group transmission throughout an upcoming lengthy weekend.

Although Thursday’s instances aren’t linked to another clusters within the newest outbreak, the lifting of lockdown in Melbourne will proceed attributable to low-risk ranges, Victoria state Performing Premier James Merlino stated throughout a televised media convention.

Individually, New Zealand authorities have moved three Melbourne residents into managed isolation after they boarded their flight from Sydney to beat a journey ban imposed in response to the Victoria outbreak, New Zealand media reported.

New Zealand started quarantine-free journey for Australian vacationers in April, a pandemic milestone, however paused the so-called “journey bubble” with Victoria late final month. (Reporting by Renju Jose; Extra reporting by Sonali Paul; Modifying by Jacqueline Wong and Michael Perry)