Queensland records case of Delta variant in hotel quarantine
Another person has caught coronavirus inside Queensland hotel quarantine.
Annastacia Palaszczuk said the spread inside The Novotel in Brisbane Airport from an adjacent room was the highly-transmissible Delta variant, but that no cases had been identified in the community.
The Queensland premier said an investigation was underway as she called for regional hotel quarantine facilities.
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Queensland has recorded no new local cases and one case in hotel quarantine overnight, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said. 9News
Queensland's Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said the case was initially thought to have been caught overseas but genomic testing indicated the person who returned from Zambia had been infected in quarantine.
"We had two people in one room, and one person in the room adjacent and that person in the room adjacent tested positive," Dr Young said.
"First and then two days later, the couple or the two people in the adjacent room tested positive."
The couple had entered quarantine on June 8 and the single person on June 10.
"At the time we thought it was just overseas-acquired. But now that I've got the genome sequencing back, it's clear that the first person has given it to the other two people," she said.
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Dr Young said the Delta was now the "major variant" being seen in people returning from overseas.
"We're not seeing that Delta variant only coming from India now," she said.
"It's widespread and that is to be expected when you get a variant that is more transmissible, it then becomes the dominant variant."
Dr Young said the infection was detected on the floor five of the quarantine hotel.
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Queensland's Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said the new case recently returned from Zambia. 9News
Health authorities will contact all 30 people who stayed on floor five.
"And anyone who left quarantine during the period that I'm concerned about," she said.
"The people on floor five, their stay has been extended until we've been able to confirm that there's been no additional transmission."
Queensland now has 35 active cases, with 10,087 Queenslanders getting tests yesterday.
The state has issued 15,000 vaccines in the past 24 hours.
The announcement comes as Queensland shuts its borders to several Sydney coronavirus hotspots.
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