Pub, Gym And Cafe In Brisbane Declared Hot Spots After Doctor’s Positive COVID Test

Brisbane

UPDATE: A Brisbane doctor who tested positive to COVID visited a pub, a gym and a cafe on the city’s south side, with the three venues named as possible exposure sites by Queensland Health.

Authorities say that the doctor, who assessed two COVID-positive patients on Wednesday, tested positive on Friday, and may have been infectious while in the community on Thursday.

Sites she visited were:

  • The Morning After Cafe in West End from 2pm to 3.15pm Thursday March 11
  • Corporate Box Gym at Greenslopes from 5.45pm to 7pm Thursday March 11
  • Stones Corner Hotel between 7-7.45pm Thursday March 11

Contact tracing is underway, and while there is no mandate for the general public to wear masks, all hospitals, aged care and disability services in the Greater Brisbane area will be closed to visitors.

EARLIER: The Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane has been placed into lockdown after a doctor tested positive to COVID-19 yesterday, with the Queensland state government set to announce a list of exposure sites today.

It is believed that the doctor contracted the virus while seeing patients with COVID-19 in the early hours of Wednesday. The doctor was infectious while in the community the following day, and a major contact tracing effort is underway.

The PA Hospital is one of the largest in Brisbane, with a capacity of more than 1000 beds. Non-urgent outpatient bookings and elective surgeries have been postponed, while non-essential visits will not be allowed, and anyone who attends will be required to wear a mask.

A statement from Queensland Health reads:

The Princess Alexandra Hospital has been placed into lockdown effective immediately after a positive Covid-19 case was detected today (12 March 2021).

All non-essential visits to patients will not be allowed. If you must attend PA Hospital, you will be required to wear a mask. The Emergency Department will remain open, but if you’re able to receive care at a nearby hospital or at a GP, please do so.

Staff will wear masks at all times. Patients will be required to wear masks at all times unless it is not clinically appropriate. Non-urgent outpatient bookings and elective surgery will be postponed.

Due to the early stage of this, Queensland Health is in the process of contact tracing the positive case’s movements. If there is a risk to the public from the hospital or any other location this person has visited, we will issue a public health alert.

The person, a staff member at the PA Hospital, had contact with Covid-19 positive patients in the early hours of 10 March.

The staff member was tested today (March 12). Tests indicate low level of the virus which means the staff member may have only been infectious in the community for around one day on the 11th.

All patients, staff and families this person interacted with are being identified and appropriate actions are being taken.

The hospital is actively working to ensure the safety of staff and patients on campus while contact tracing is undertaken. Contact tracing is underway and further details will be provided tomorrow morning.

Anyone with any Covid-19 symptoms should get tested immediately and isolate until you receive a negative result.

This case marks the end of Queensland’s 59-day run without a locally-spread case of COVID. The Greater Brisbane region went into a snap three-day lockdown in January, after a quarantine hotel cleaner tested positive to to a highly-contagious UK variant of the virus.

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