Showing posts with label Queensland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Queensland. Show all posts

Thursday 18 January 2024

With continuing rain bringing risk of across border flooding Northern NSW put on alert for fire ant movement in January 2024

 


Invasive Species Council, excerpts retrieved 17 January 2024:


Red Fire Ants are a serious problem for everybody in Australia. These highly invasive ants first turned up in Australia in 2001 at the northern port of Brisbane. We know of four other outbreaks. One large outbreak in southeast Queensland remains active, but contained.....


Nearly all of Australia is vulnerable to fire ant invasion, including all major cities and towns. More than 99% of the mainland and 80% of Tasmania are suitable to these deadly intruders.


Fire ants might be small, but when their nests are disturbed they rise up in their thousands to swarm and sting their intruder en masse.


Without the regular use of chemical baits, infested parks, gardens and homes become uninhabitable. In the US, 30% to 60% of people in infested areas are stung each year. The stings are painful, hence their name ‘fire’ ants. The alkaloid venom causes pustules and, in some people, allergic reactions.


Fire ants have greater ecological impacts than most ants because they reach extremely high densities. An assessment of their likely impact on 123 animals in southeast Queensland predicted population declines in about 45% of birds, 38% of mammals, 69% of reptiles and 95% of frogs.


These ants damage crops, rob beehives and kill newborn livestock. During dry times they dominate the margins of dams and livestock cannot reach water without being seriously stung.


Australia has too much to lose if we don’t eradicate red fire ants.....


‘The recent heavy rainfall and wild weather in the region could accelerate the spread of fire ants, one of the world’s worst invasive species,’ warned Invasive Species Council Advocacy Manager Reece Pianta.


‘Fire ants are more active before or after rainfall and can form large floating rafts which move with water currents to establish footholds in new areas.


‘We have recently seen evidence of this rafting behaviour on cane farms south of Brisbane.


‘The good news is that it will be easier to spot fire ants and their nests at this time.


‘We are therefore calling on the community to be on the lookout for fire ants, including in their backyards, local parks, beaches or bushland.


‘It’s really easy to do your part. Just take a picture of any suspicious ants and report it.


‘And don’t worry if you’re not sure what type of ant it is, every picture that is sent in will be vital information for the eradication program.....


Report fire ants to:

Queensland: 13 25 23 or www.fireants.org.au

New South Wales: 1800 680 244 or https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/biosecurity/forms/report-exotic-ants

If you think fire ants are on your property, find advice on what to do by visiting: https://www.fireants.org.au/treat/residential-landowner-or-tenant









TheSydney Morning Herald, 17 January 2024:


Venomous fire ants caught in Queensland floodwaters are forming living rafts that quickly traverse long distances, raising the threat of more incursions from the south-east of the state into NSW.


A video released by the Invasive Species Council on Tuesday shows thousands of ants clinging to each other in a tight pack as they float in floodwaters around the Gold Coast.


The invasive species, whose sting can kill people, pets and livestock, and destroy native ecosystems, can also fly – in rare cases up to several kilometres at a time – and travel in transported soil, mulch, animal feed, potted plants and other organic material.


Six nests were detected and destroyed at Murwillumbah in the NSW Northern Rivers region in November. The mounting threat is so urgent the state government has increased checks at the Queensland border, requiring people to declare their goods and register their movements.


“There is a real onus on NSW residents, buyers, importers or anyone that’s bringing in goods from Queensland to make sure they know where it comes from,” NSW Department of Primary Industries chief invasive species officer Scott Charlton said.


“If it’s a fire ant area, it requires the appropriate paperwork to be certified as free from fire ants.”.....



Sunday 10 July 2022

NEW SOUTH WALES, QUEENSLAND, VICTORIA: Australian East Coast Is Speaking Out



Climate Media Centre, Media Alert, 6 July 2022, excerpts:


With warnings still in place in parts of NSW, many of those in flood affected areas are starting to assess the damage…….


Emma Heyde, Councillor for C Ward, Hornsby Shire Council said:


Year-on-year floods, storms and fires is the new and frightening reality for people in Hornsby Shire. Damage to livelihoods and properties from climate chaos like this week’s floods could eventually affect up to a third of all residents.


For us in Hornsby Shire, climate hazards now mean thousands of homes are potentially uninsurable because of floods in winter and fires in summer. Thousands of Hornsby Shire residents have pleaded for action on the climate emergency since 2018.


The Hawkesbury floods are just another example of why it is so urgent that our local politicians not only send thoughts and prayers, but actually act on the root cause of these increasingly frequent disasters: climate heating.


Mark Greenhill, mayor, Blue Mountains City Council, can speak about his community’s experience in the current major weather event which has included major landslips, road failures and has stranded tourists and campers at Megalong Valley…..


The climate change-supercharged Black Summer fires, followed by massive rain events, followed by two years of Covid, followed now by two seasons of massive rain events, have seen nearly half a billion dollars’ worth of damage done to our council infrastructure, and a community and a local economy that’s been battered by natural disaster following natural disaster following natural disaster. In our city, strung along a ridgetop for 40km, we are experiencing the extremes of climate change at the front line.”


Gordon Bradbery, Lord Mayor, Wollongong City Council said:


The present devastating rain event on the east coast of Australia is just another in a series of catastrophes. The reality of the problem is not just climate change but an exhausted planet -- the depletion of and damage to natural systems. We have evolved faster in our expectations and rapacious exploitation of the natural environment - that is exceeding the planet’s ability to cope.


The east coast of Australia is an example of increasing population density in an increasingly hazardous location. From cyclones to bushfires, droughts to floods, and coastal erosion – we are putting more people into situations of greater risk.


Local government is expected to manage the implications of international behaviours and practices that are endangering and impacting local communities globally. We can all do our bit to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but unless there is an unified International response and a national commitment to dramatic lifestyle changes we are just tinkering at the edges.”


Amanda Lamont, Climate Action and Disaster Resilience Advisor at Zoos Victoria and Co-founder of the Australasian Women in Emergencies Network, can speak about conservation and climate action for wildlife, disaster resilience, emergency management, women in disasters and ways to improve risk.


Planning for emergencies is important but what happens when our plans run out? Eventually our plans and adaptations are not going to keep up with the disastrous impacts of climate change. The imperative to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has never been more urgent. And we all have a role to play.


Our precious environment, our communities and the emergency sector are right now bearing the brunt of extreme and overlapping disasters, which will have long-term effects. While we need to focus on supporting communities, we cannot ignore the threat of climate change and disasters on our natural environment, our diverse wildlife and the ecosystems on which we all depend.”


Ian Lowe AO, Environmental Scientist, is an expert in the effects of coastal inundation and climate change for low-lying areas. He can talk generally about the risk of extreme weather events to communities, and what the overall warming trend means for Australia.


The science has been telling us since the 1980s to expect ‘a more vigorous hydrodynamic cycle’, in other words because it’s warmer there is more evaporation, and because there’s more moisture in the atmosphere (and what goes up must come down!) the obvious increase of rising temperatures is more severe rainfall events. It’s pretty elementary physics.”


Dr Stefanie Pidcock, medical officer at Bega Hospital and member of Doctors for the Environment, can talk about the mental health impacts of extreme weather events on individuals and communities, as well as the additional stress these events put on regional hospitals.


The health impacts of extreme weather events such as the current flooding in NSW go well beyond the immediate and real dangers of injury and mosquito-borne diseases.


In Bega, many of my patients are still living with the trauma of their experiences of bushfires months and years later. With extreme weather events increasing in frequency and severity around the country, I'm concerned about the ongoing mental health of our communities.


I'm also concerned about the increased pressure that events like this put on our regional hospitals, which are already under stress. Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, and is harming the health and safety of Australians. We need to act now to reduce emissions this decade, while also preparing our hospitals and staff to treat and support communities experiencing extreme weather.”


Dr Michael Ferguson, sole owner of the Wauchope Veterinary Clinic, and a member of Vets for Climate Action, runs a mixed practice in Wauchope NSW where he looks after domestic pets and livestock from nearby farms.


For those with cattle around Windsor the difficulty is that beef producers have to move their cattle so quickly off flood plains. Logistically that can be quite difficult with road closures and trying to muster up cattle in wet conditions and finding somewhere to take them. This flooding event will have impacts on these producers even after flood waters go back down. I have seen producers in my area that had badly flooded paddocks and then the grasses that came back were not as good - it was too cold so there was a feed shortage and cattle were at risk of starving so producers had to source feed. That’s a lot of financial impact.


We also see a lot more lameness issues in cattle and horses because their feet are wet - also for cows mastitis goes right up as well.


Domestically we see the cats stay inside and not want to go to the toilet and get bladder issues after big rain events. They don’t want to go outside to wee and they get blocked up and have to come to the vet clinic.


The other thing is leptospirosis - a water-borne disease spread from animals’ urine into the water. There had been a few cases around Sydney and Newcastle and with these wet boggy conditions likely to be a lot more. We offer vaccines to pets for this and it’s part of the normal seven-in-one vaccine for cattle. It’s a disease that can pass to humans, it's quite nasty and serious and it’s quite bad for animals as well.”


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


On the subject of inappropriate development consent on the West Yamba flood storage area currently at the initial landfill stage:

Never thought I would see storm water replace river flood water as the main problem for us [Anon, on the subject of homes threatened by unmanaged groundwater runoff during heavy rain periods being redirected by presence of landfill in West Yamba, Valley Watch-sponsored community meeting] 9 July 2022]


Wednesday 19 January 2022

Comparing active cases and COVID-19 related deaths on the Australian east coast mainland as of Monday 17 January 2022


QUEENSLAND

As of 7pm Monday 17 January 2022 there were 86,561 confirmed active COVID-19 cases in Queensland. There were 819 COVID-19 cases in hospital – with 50 active cases in ICU, including 18 on a ventilator. A total of 16 deaths occurred of three people in their 70s, eight in their 80s, four in their 90s and one person aged over 100.


NEW SOUTH WALES

As of 8pm Monday 17 January 2022 there were 326,356 confirmed active COVID-19 cases in NSW. There were 2,850 COVID-19 cases in hospital – with 209 active cases in ICU, including 63 on a ventilator. A total of 36 deaths occurred - one person was aged in their 40s, two people were aged in their 50s, one person was aged in their 60s, eleven people were in their 70s, twelve people were in their 80s and nine people were in their 90s.


AUSTRALIAN CAPITOL TERRITORY

As of 8pm Monday 17 January 2022 there were 3,205 confirmed active COVID-19 cases in NSW. There were 52 COVID-19 cases in hospital – with 4 active cases in ICU, including 2 on a ventilator. A total of one death occurred


VICTORIA

As of 4pm Monday 17 January 2022 there were 235,035 confirmed active COVID-19 cases in Victoria. There are 1,152 COVID-19 cases in hospital – with 93 active cases in ICU, including 43 on a ventilator, and 34 cleared cases in ICU. A total of 22 deaths occurred of people aged in their 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.


Thursday 16 December 2021

December 2021: What the newspapers are saying....


 

The Daily Telegraph, 15 December 2021, p10:


The CEO of an organisation that managed an East Lismore group home where significant issues arose has apologised on behalf of the service provider.


Life Without Barriers CEO Claire Robbs addressed the Disability Royal Commission on Tuesday.


Ms Robbs addressed issues including those which arose in relation to a particular resident of the group home, referred to by the pseudonym Sophie and another, known as Natalie.


It deeply saddens me that for the people who have shared their stories with the disability Royal Commission, our organisation has not met this promise,” Ms Robbs said.


The physical abuse Sophie experienced is unquestionably not in keeping with Sophie’s right to feel safe and respected in her own home.” “I do not condone the violence towards Sophie, and I offer Sophie and her family our sincere apology for the harm caused to her, including for the manner in which our investigations into the matter was undertaken.” She has condemned the misconduct toward another resident, known as Natalie. “For Natalie and her family, the sexual misconduct by a staff member is completely unacceptable, and I acknowledge the pain and trauma that has caused Natalie and her family,” Ms Robbs said.


Our priority should have been to protect Natalie earlier.


I offer this apology to both Natalie and her family with a full understanding that our delay in offering a genuine and human response was also unacceptable.” Ms Robbs is continuing to give evidence before the commission in relation to multiple abuse, mistreatment and neglect allegations at homes run by Life Without Barriers.


The organisation’s Director of Policy Reform and Business Development Stephen Doley appeared before the commission on Monday.


Mr Doley was the director of disability and aged care for NSW and the ACT at the time of the incidents in Lismore but was also questioned about the cases of residents in a Melbourne home…..



The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 December 2021, p1:


More than 1.9 million coronavirus case alerts have been issued in the Service NSW app over the past fortnight as end-of-year celebrations drive an upswing in the state's cases.


The alerts, issued between November 29 and December 13, include directions to monitor for symptoms, as well as to test and isolate as contacts of a case.


There have been several instances of all patrons at a hospitality venue being placed in isolation for a week as clusters linked to nightclubs and pubs threaten to push daily cases into the thousands by the end of the year…..


A NSW Health spokesperson said they were unable to confirm how many people were considered close contacts.


Half of Sydney's systemic Catholic schools elected to learn from home this week as families attempt to avoid being deemed a close contact before Christmas.


But hundreds of other families are awaiting their fate after their children were potentially exposed at school…..


Christine Rooke's daughter, who is too young to be vaccinated, caught COVID-19 on the last day of term at her eastern suburbs private school this month.


She tested positive on day six of her quarantine period so will spend the first 20 days of her holidays in isolation.


Ms Rooke says she hopes the rest of her family, all of whom are vaccinated, will avoid catching the virus. If they test positive, the clock on their isolation will be reset and they will be housebound until after Christmas.


"If none of us test positive, we could be out on the 19th. If any of us test positive now, we will miss it," she said.


"It's frustrating because we've been sold this story ... that we are going to live with COVID and life is going to get back to normal, but that isn't really the case."…..



Courier Mail, 13 December 2021, p5:


This week, police will embark on their biggest operation since the Commonwealth Games and the G20 summit – the reopening of Queensland.


Late on Sunday afternoon, stranded Queenslanders and travellers began to fill Tweed Heads, filling side streets, car parks and service stations, poised for the border to open at 1am.


Julie Aubrey and her family parked their caravan at a service station just 9km from the border, setting up camp chairs for the long wait.


Ms Aubrey travelled from Brisbane to Victoria in June to care for her sick mother-in-law. She passed in October, but Mr Aubrey couldn’t return because of hard border closures. “I haven’t seen my kids for six months, so that’s been tough. I just can’t wait to see them,” she said.


The borders have been closed to southern hotspots for the past 141 days, leaving families ripped apart, Queenslanders stranded and the tourism industry reeling.


The border has now been closed three times for a total of 435 days since the pandemic began.


But the long wait and the uncertainty is over.


FIFO dads will see their kids again – some meeting babies for the first time – grandparents will reunite with families, couples will celebrate homecomings and some locals will simply be allowed to go home.


Health authorities, including Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and new chief health officer Dr John Gerrard, have reassured Queenslanders there are no plans to shut the state down again.


Greeting the interstate arrivals at road checkpoints and airports will be officers from a 500-strong contingency, tasked with ensuring border openings today and vaccine mandates on Friday go smoothly.


The state’s top Covid cop, Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski, said it was the biggest police operation since the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2014 G20 summit in Brisbane attended by world leaders, including then-US president Barack Obama.


We could see up to 60,000 vehicles (crossing into Queensland) per day,” he said.


The pandemic response has been by far the largest and most sustained major operation in QPS history but the anticipated numbers (of ­people) we will have to deal with when the border reopens will be significant.” Business and tourism leaders, along with long-suffering border residents, say the reopening has been a long time coming and there can be no more crippling closures.


There’s enormous relief that the state government has held its nerve and stuck with the road map despite the emergence of the Omicron variant,” Queensland Tourism Industry Council CEO Daniel Gschwind said.


It should help rebuild shattered consumer confidence about travelling anywhere across borders.


We have to learn to live with the virus and accept that it will spread in Queensland, but we can manage it.” Mr Gschwind said holiday bookings and inquiries had surged since the border reopening announcement.


He said the decision to reopen four days earlier than scheduled, after Queensland’s double dose vaccination hit 80 per cent last week, had reinforced confidence…..



Manning River Times, 10 December 2021, p3:


Health systems coping "at the moment" Local health systems, not just in the Mid Coast, but in other regional and rural areas around NSW, seem to be coping well at the moment, thanks to high vaccination rates in most areas. But it still wouldn't take much to tip the situation to a serious level, health workers say.


"The problem is things might seem to be going alright but then they can go pear shaped very, very fast," Dr Holliday said.


"I guess with small hospitals, and the Manning (Base Hospital) is really under funded, what will happen is that people will do their very best, but we don't have the capacity."


Paramedics and nursing staff in rural and regional areas keep saying there is a chronic staff shortage, and that the capacity of a hospital to deal with an increase in COVID cases will not come down to a lack of beds, but a lack of staff.


Tim McEwan, an Australian Paramedics Association delegate and working paramedic from Yamba, near Coffs Harbour, says that staff are "dead on their feet"


"It's been relentless. Not necessarily COVID related, just generally speaking," Mr McEwen said,


"What we're finding now is that both NSW Ambulance and the hospitals are struggling to staff their units.


"Even NSW ambulance can be two or three cars short each shift, and they just can't find paramedics to fill them. The casuals don't seem to be putting their hand up as much; certainly the full time staff are not putting their hands up for overtime.


"If the hospitals can't staff their wards, then the flow on is that the ED can't get their patients out of there onto the wards," Tim says…..



Friday 3 September 2021

Pigeons coming home to roost for protesting Covidiots at NSW-Qld border

 

 



Michael Corrigan, 52 year-old film stuntman from Murwillumbah NSW was reportedly arrested after participating in two separate anti-lockdown protests on the NSW-Qld border.


Echo NetDaily, 2 September 2021:


Police have arrested another man following an investigation into unauthorised protest activity across NSW earlier this week. 


Acting on information and intelligence, the NSW Police Force deployed more than 900 officers on Tuesday 31 August 2021, to conduct high-visibility patrols of various sites expected to be targeted by unauthorised protests, including NSW Parliament House and local council chambers. 


General Duties officers from across NSW were supported by the Public Order and Riot Squad, Operations Support Group, Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, Police Transport Command, the Dog and Mounted Unit, and other specialist units. 


Following investigations, a 52-year-old man attended Murwillumbah Police Station about 4.30pm yesterday (Wednesday, 1 September, 2021), where he was arrested and taken to Tweed Heads Police Station. 


The man was charged with unlawfully participate in outdoor gathering/stay at home area. He was given conditional bail to appear at Murwillumbah Local Court on 22 September 2021.....



NSW Police, News, 2 September 2021, excerpts:



During the operation, protestors crossed the border between Queensland at Coolangatta and NSW at Tweed Heads.



As part of ongoing investigations, police have today released images of five people who may be able to assist with inquiries.



The first man depicted is described as wearing a black t-shirt and cream cargo pants, with a GoPro strapped to his chest.



A second man depicted is described as wearing a faded grey t-shirt, orange pants and a blue and yellow face mask, holding a mobile phone.



A third man depicted is described as wearing a white t-shirt and a black cap.



A female depicted is described as wearing a black blouse and carrying a black handbag.



A fourth man depicted is described as wearing a black singlet and a black floppy hat, with a sleeve tattoo on his left arm.



Anyone with information about the identity of the five people – or has mobile phone footage of the protest activity – is urged to contact Crime Stoppers through the online portal or by contacting 1800 333 000.



Images released by NSW Police and published by ABC News, 2 Sept 2021







Monday 26 July 2021

From Sydney to Ballina and onto the Gold Coast carrying a COVID-19 infection with him

 

The Daily Telegraph, 25 July 2021:


An airline employee who has since tested positive for Covid-19 transported an infected man from the Ballina Byron Gateway Airport, it has been revealed.


Queensland deputy premier Steven Miles said a Qantas flight attendant, who Queensland health authorities reported as a positive case on Friday, drove a man who was infectious from Ballina on July 14.


He said the infected man was now in Queensland but was recorded in New South Wales statistics.


Mr Miles said it is believed the flight attendant caught the virus from the man after he left Sydney.


(The man was) tested on July 12 because they were a close contact,” Mr Miles said.


The details of what happened from then are a bit complicated.”


Mr Miles echoed NSW authorities by saying the man should have been in isolation from that time.


This is notwithstanding the fact Sydney remains in lockdown.


It does appear though there was a lab error in their initial results,” Mr Miles said.


This result returned a negative result for the man and, although he was meant to remain in isolation, he flew to Ballina on July 14 on Virgin flight VA1139.


They were then collected from Ballina airport by the flight attendant that we reported positive in Queensland on Friday,” Mr Miles said.


She picked up that passenger from Ballina airport and drove him back to Queensland.


So it does appear that the flight attended we reported on Friday caught Covid from the passenger on this flight to Ballina.


Both these positive cases have been active in and around Brisbane and the Gold Coast.”….


It’s clear that those two people now have been out and about in Brisbane and the Gold Coast since July 14,” Dr Young said…...


He was tested on July 12 following identification of a workplace contact,” Dr McAnulty said.


He said the man initially received a test result from a private lab which returned a false negative.


He was required to isolate for 14 days regardless of the result of that test.


But he flew to Ballina on July 14 before travelling into Queensland, Dr McAnulty said.


Dr McAnulty said authorities were advised the man’s swab was positive on July 20.


He said NSW Health “immediately contacted and interviewed” the man.


He stated he had been isolating since the 10th of July however we know this is not true,” he said.


We’re working with our colleagues in Queensland Health and have referred the matter to NSW Police.”….


Echo NetDaily, article excerpt, 26 July 2021:


Forty-five travellers from Sydney are being urged to get tested for COVID-19 and continue self-isolation on the Northern Rivers after sharing a flight with a confirmed case.


Acting Northern NSW Health District CEO Lynne Weir confirmed Monday the travellers were all supposed to have been self-isolating anyway as they were under public health orders to follow stay-at-home rules applicable in Sydney.


The passengers caught a Virgin flight from Sydney to Ballina on 14 July: flight VA 1139.


Sunday 25 July 2021

The world can see evidence of Australia's methane pollution from space

 

Bloomberg Green, 22 July 2021:


Potent methane plumes have been detected in a key coal mining district in Australia, one of the world’s biggest exporters of the commodity, underscoring the fossil fuel’s role in exacerbating climate change.


Clouds of the invisible greenhouse gas, which is over 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the Earth in its first couple decades in the atmosphere, were spotted near multiple mines last month, an analysis of European Space Agency satellite data by geoanalytics firm Kayrros SAS showed.


Methane detected over the Bowen Basin on June 21. Source: Kayrros SAS


Two large clouds of methane were spotted over the Bowen Basin on June 21, and were visible across more than 30 kilometers each. While Kayrros attributes the clouds to the coal sector, the plumes were diffused and could have come from multiple sources.


The leaking of methane into the atmosphere has come under increasing scrutiny as awareness grows over their harmful global warming effects. Scientists view reducing emissions from the fossil fuel industry as one of the cheapest and easiest ways to hold down temperatures in the near term, especially as improving technology makes it easier to identify polluters.


Efforts to curtail coal use have largely focused on the large amount of CO₂ generated when it’s burned, but mining the fuel is also problematic because producers can release methane trapped in underground operations to lower the risk of explosion. The coal sector is forecast to account for about 10% of man-made emissions of the gas by the end of the decade, according to the Global Methane Initiative.


The Bowen Basin is a key producing region for Australia, the world’s top exporter of metallurgical coal used in steel-making. For every ton of coal produced in the region, an average 7.5 kilograms of methane is released, according to Kayrros. That’s 47% higher than the global average in 2018, the geoanalytics company said, citing International Energy Agency data.


When contacted about the larger of the two plumes, Queensland’s Department of Environment and Science said it didn’t receive notice of methane releases in the two days through June 21. Coal mining companies have reporting obligations under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme that is regulated by the federal government, the department said.


Sunday 10 January 2021

Two hyper-infectious COVID-19 strains now on Australian east coast


According to The Guardian on 7 January 2021: 


A Queensland hotel quarantine worker has contracted the highly infectious UK strain of Covid-19, prompting the state’s health authorities to send aged care homes in parts of greater Brisbane into lockdown. 


The cleaner, a woman in her 20s, was working at a hotel that contained patients with the strain, which has been found to be more infectious than previous strains. 


While The Sydney Morning Herald reported on 8 January 2021: 


Six returned travellers in Sydney have tested positive to the UK variant of the COVID-19 virus and four returned travellers are positive for the South African variant - both believed to be more contagious than earlier strains. 


NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant revealed the 10 people who arrived since November 30 had all been quarantined in special health accommodation - separate from the NSW Police-run hotel quarantine sites. 


A family of four learned they all carried the more infectious South African variant of the virus (known as B1.351) when their preliminary test results came back on Thursday night. All 16 people on their flight from South Africa to Sydney have been moved into the accommodation as a precaution, Dr Chant said. 


Then on 9 January 2021 ABC News reported that a woman;  flew to Brisbane on a Jetstar flight from Victoria and has tested positive for the highly contagious UK variant of coronavirus.


All four of the travellers in NSW with the South African variant of the virus have been discharged from the special accommodation as they were no longer infectious. The other two remain in quarantine in the facility. In an abundance of caution the Victorian woman who travelled to Queensland is also in quarantine.


The South African variant of the virus appears to have emerged in August 2020 while the UK variant was identified in November 2020.



This situation has resulted in changes to public health orders.




Northern NSW Local Health District, media release, 8 January 2021:


The NSW Government has put in place a new Public Health Order to ensure anyone who visits NSW from the Greater Brisbane area, or who has arrived in NSW from this area in recent days, must follow similar ‘stay at home’ rules as those being put in place by the Queensland Government.


Under the Order, anyone entering NSW by any mode of transport from the City of Brisbane, City of Ipswich, Lockyer Valley Region, Logan City, Moreton Bay Region, Redland City, Scenic Rim Region, and Somerset Region must go directly to their home or place of accommodation in NSW, and remain there until 6pm on Monday 11 January 2021.


The Order applies to anyone who has arrived in NSW from those areas since 12.01am on 2 January 2021. People who have arrived in NSW after transiting through Brisbane Airport will not be subject to the requirements of the Order, provided they have not been in the listed areas.


Once at their home or place of accommodation, Queensland arrivals are allowed to leave only for the purposes of obtaining food or essential shopping, taking exercise, work duties if they cannot be done from home, caring duties or medical care, until 6pm on Monday.


People coming to Greater Sydney (including Wollongong, the Central Coast and the Blue Mountains) from Queensland or elsewhere are also reminded of the need to wear face masks in certain situations, including while shopping, under a separate Public Health Order signed earlier this week.


In addition, from 6pm today all people arriving in NSW from Queensland by air must also complete a self-declaration form stating their name, address and where they stayed in Queensland, and dates of arrival and departure.


Enforcement officers will have the power to require information and identification documentation to assist in checking compliance.


Anyone who is travelling to NSW from Queensland, or has recently done so, is asked to monitor for even the mildest of symptoms and immediately get tested and isolate if any symptoms develop. Once tested, you must remain in isolation until a negative result is received, in line with the normal advice for all people in NSW.


Anyone who has been in the Greater Brisbane area since 2 January cannot visit people in aged care or health care facilities in NSW.


Genome sequencing has confirmed a Queensland case of COVID-19 has the more transmissible UK variant of the virus. NSW Health continues to closely monitor the situation and regularly updates its health advice.


We will continue to work closely with our colleagues in Queensland and other states and territories to ensure that appropriate public health measures are in place to protect the health and safety of people throughout Australia. [my yellow highlighting]