The Department of Health says fragments of COVID-19 are continuing to be found in the Coombabah, Cleveland and Carole Park sewage catchments.
Acting Chief Health Officer, Sonya Bennett said the repeat detection in the locations, in addition to increasing detections in other South-East Queensland catchments, was becoming more concerning.
“In the past two weeks, 16 sewage catchments have detected viral fragments of COVID-19 in various locations across the State,” Dr Bennett said.
“Cleveland and Carole Park are of particular concern as we have no hotel quarantine locations that feed into these sewage systems.”
She said that meant there could potentially be an undetected case in the community.
“That is why we are urging anyone with any symptoms, no matter how mild, to come forward and get tested,” she said.
Dr Bennett reminded the public that symptoms included fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue, diarrhoea, nausea or vomiting, and loss of taste or smell.
“This is especially important now more than ever, as we know the new variants emerging overseas are more contagious than previous variants we have seen in Queensland,” the Acting Chief Health Officer said.
“If there is a case we are not yet aware of, it is critical we detect it through our testing mechanisms as quickly as possible to contain any potential spread.”
She said it was possible that the detections in the sewage systems related to previous COVID-19 cases who could shed viral fragments for a couple of months after they were no longer infectious.
