Queensland contact tracers are in “overdrive” as they monitor dozens of exposure sites across two states. Scores of Australians’ Easter holiday plans are in chaos after the greater Brisbane COVID-19 outbreak spread to Byron Bay. Witnesses are giving evidence in the trial of the former police officer accused of killing George Floyd.

Byron Shire Council Mayor Simon Richardson says it has been a “worrying” few days with Brisbane’s COVID-19 outbreak seeping into the town. 

“After all we’ve gone through to get to the Easter holidays and now to have this uncertainty hanging over our head – it’s a really worrying couple of days,” he told Today. 

About 4000 people have come forward to be tested in the region, with Mr Richardson describing the result as “pleasing”. 

“The queues, the very first day, were pretty long and arduous and tested the patience, but yesterday we rolled out a lot more testing stations and the queues were pretty manageable,” he said. 

Mr Richardson said more cases could arise in the area. 

“You’d be naïve to think that there won’t be any positive testing over the next week or two, because of course what comes out today will only be a snapshot for the last couple of days,” he said. 

“As we know some of the positive cases can take a few days to emerge. I guess what we need to do is just find out the information as soon as we can and then respond appropriately.”