Authorities remain uncertain as to exactly who the woman acquired the infection from, but Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young said she was “not a risk at all” to the wider community.
Dr Young described the woman, who resides in the Wide Bay area three hours north of Brisbane, as “the perfect case”.
“When the person came back to Queensland, they went into quarantine and they were tested on Monday night and they were negative on Monday night,” Dr Young said.
“Then they were tested again Wednesday morning when they were positive, so they have been in quarantine during their infectious period – so not a risk at all.”
The woman resides with a previously detected case who is now in hospital in the Wide Bay region, with Dr Young saying it’s unclear whether the woman contracted her infection from the hen’s party or from her housemate.
However, the fact that she initially tested negative meant she was not out in the community whilst infectious.
Dr Young said the extensive COVID-19 testing being done made her “reasonably confident” that Queensland Health was successfully managing its two outbreaks.
“The amount of testing over the last 48 hours has been astronomical,” she said.
“Thank you to every single person who has come forward.”
There are ongoing concerns about the growing number of COVID-19 cases being detected within the state’s hotel quarantine system.
Nine additional cases were recorded in returned travellers today and there are now 82 people in Queensland hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 – 68 of whom are returned travellers.
“That’s a real risk for us because I think we are the highest state in the country at the moment with the most number of active cases in hospital who are returned travellers from overseas,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“In light of that, I have written to the Prime Minister to ask for another further extension to the end of April in terms of reducing our capacity of returned travellers.”
This content first appear on 9news