Queensland is on edge after one of six new Covid cases visited a nightclub where the Omicron variant spread interstate.
Queensland has recorded six new locally acquired cases of Covid-19, one of which had visited a Newcastle nightclub that was later confirmed as an Omicron hotspot.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath confirmed two of the new cases were being treated as the Omicron variant.
One was a person who visited Newcastle’s Argyle House nightclub.
“In both of these cases we are awaiting genomic sequencing to come back,” she told reporters on Wednesday.
Ms D’Ath said the second case of concern had visited a hotspot in Newcastle, before flying to Brisbane and then Townsville.
Another previously reported case from the UK also tested positive to the Omicron variant in hotel quarantine.
Ms D’Ath said the six cases had visited a number of sites across the state and had been infectious for up to six days.
“Places such as Goondiwindi, Wide Bay, Townsville, Gold Coast and Brisbane South have all reported these cases,” Ms D’Ath said.
The new cases come after widespread mockery of a decision to force two planes of passengers into quarantine for Christmas.
Just two days after the Sunshine State opened its borders, dozens of flight passengers aboard at least two Virgin flights to Brisbane and Townsville have been asked to isolate after being deemed close contacts of someone with the virus.
It is believed the case is a passenger from Newcastle, which is at the centre of a mass nightclub cluster linked to the Omicron strain.
Passengers on VA1105 from Newcastle to Brisbane and VA375 from Brisbane to Townsville have been asked to isolate for 14 days – with tourists forced into hotel quarantine – regardless of negative results or their vaccination status.
The decision has been widely derided and a source of anxiety for anyone looking to fly into the state for the summer, with visitors now facing two weeks of quarantine if a single person on their flight is positive.
“Flights have been going between NSW and Vic for months – has there been a single superspreader event on a flight relating to a Covid case?” ABC’s 7.30 host Leigh Sales wrote on Twitter.
“What is the basis of Qld locking up planeloads of vaxed people for Christmas without warning or precedent?”
There are also nine new exposure sites in Goondiwindi as well as new sites in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast.
A man with the Omicron variant was confirmed on Tuesday as one of the four new cases to arrive in quarantine.
