Announcing the end of South-East Queensland’s lockdown, Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk said some sensible precautions would remain.
Ms Palaszczuk paid tribute to the people in the 11 Local Government Areas (LGAs) whose patience and sacrifice had successfully contained the spread of the highly-infectious Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus.
The Premier said, however, the Cairns and Yarrabah LGAs would continue in lockdown after a taxi driver tested positive to the virus.
Ms Palaszczuk said it was the 15th incursion Queenslanders had faced in recent months and it was the 15th time they had successfully stopped the virus from spreading.
“None of us could do it on our own. It took all of us. I’m so proud,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
She paid special tribute to the families of seven Brisbane schools who had spent the lockdown period in home quarantine and would remain there.
“As of this morning, 11,177 people were quarantining at home,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
The Premier said Queensland could not afford to let its guard down and defences would remain to ensure the virus was kept in check with staged steps out of lockdown for the next two weeks.
Minister for Health, Yvette D’Ath said Queenslanders needed to remain vigilant in the face of the ongoing threat posed by the highly-infectious Delta variant.
“Queenslanders have made huge sacrifices throughout this pandemic and, as a result, we can now ease restrictions, but this pandemic isn’t over yet and we all need to keep doing the things which have kept us safe,” Ms D’Ath said.
“In the South-East, this means wearing your mask, practising good hygiene and maintaining social distancing,” Ms D’Ath said.