More passengers forced to self-isolate over Christmas after flying into Queensland

More passengers will be forced to self-isolate over Christmas, as Queensland Health confirms a second case of COVID-19 flew in from Newcastle, in the NSW Hunter region.

It's the second flight from Newcastle to Brisbane triggering self-isolation rules for its passengers.

All passengers of flight QF2426, which touched down in Brisbane on Monday December 13, will now be considered casual contacts. For those seated in rows 10-14, two weeks of home quarantine is now mandatory.

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It comes as the state's Health Minister and Chief Health Officer said a spread of COVID-19 in the state was entirely anticipated, after 22 new cases were detected.

Two of those were recorded in hotel quarantine and two in home quarantine.

Eighteen were infectious in the community for up to seven days.

Cases were detected in Brisbane South, Brisbane North, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Wide Bay, Darling Downs and Townsville.

One had visited an aged care home in Holland Park, and Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said testing was being carried out on staff and residents now.

Ms D'Ath said genomic sequencing had revealed three more cases of the Omicron variant among previously reported cases.

One was a man currently in Townsville, who had travelled from Newcastle to the northern city via Brisbane, turning both flights into exposure sites.

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Another is a woman from Rochedale South, who had previously been in Newcastle.

She was infectious in the community on December 12-13.

The third case is a member of an international air crew, who had not been in the community.

Ms D'Ath said more cases were to be expected, while she anticipated case numbers overall would rise.

But that wouldn't come as a surprise to health authorities.

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"This is what we expected to happen," Ms D'Ath said, a statement echoed minutes later by Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard.

"We know we are not going to stop this virus from spreading," he said, emphasising that the goal was to slow the spread.

He said a NSW-style surge was expected in "weeks".

But Queenslanders are being urged to wear their masks properly, and the warnings are pretty stark.

"There is nowhere in Queensland you can hide from this virus," Ms D'Ath said.

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Dr Gerrard acknowledged there would likely be fatal Omicron cases, though most likely in the unvaccinated cohort.

"If there's somebody watching this right now, and they're not vaccinated, and in three months they're dead - what a tragedy that would be," he said.

But he emphasised that vaccine hesitancy was "melting away".

Of Queensland's over-16 population, 82.56 per cent are fully vaccinated, with Ms D'Ath anticipating the 90 per cent mark would be reached in mid-January.