CANBERRA (Reuters) – Passengers in Australia will have to show a negative test of COVID-19 before they can board their plane, the prime minister said on Friday, when the city of Brisbane closed after a case was discovered. ‘a new virulent virus variant of the coronavirus.
The more than 2 million residents of Brisbane, Australia’s third largest city, will not be able to leave their homes for anything other than essential business for three days from Friday evening after a worker Quarantine hotel tested positive for the new variant, which was the first detected in Britain.
Australia has found several cases of the variant, but this was the first to appear outside the quarantine system. Australia has also found a variant that emerged in South Africa in hotel quarantine.
It was not known if the hotel worker, a cleaner, was infected by someone arriving from Britain, but now everyone would have to show negative evidence to travel to Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced.
“A negative test is not infallible, but a positive test: they will not arrive,” medical director Paul Kelly told reporters in the capital, Canberra.
Morrison justified the blockade of Brisbane, in the face of the danger that the new variant would quickly become the dominant strain of the virus.
“I know there will be some in Brisbane today wondering why it’s necessary? There is only one case ‘. Well, this is not a normal case. This is a very special case and it requires that we treat things very differently, ”Morrison told reporters.
Australia has had close to 28,500 cases of the new coronavirus and some 900 deaths, far fewer than many other countries, in part due to strict border controls since the start of the pandemic.
Since March, the border has been closed to all non-resident and permanent residents and the number of people allowed each week has been limited to just over 6,000 people, and everyone is entering compulsory quarantine at the hotel.
More than 35,000 Australians have registered their intention to return, but Morrison said it would be cut by half by mid-February, given the danger of the new variant.
“We can’t put it back in the box. We have to act before we get the cases, ”said Queensland State Health Officer Jeannette Young.
Brisbane is the capital of Queensland.
Other states moved quickly to isolate Queensland. Western Australia said people in Queensland could not travel there and others implemented a mandatory quarantine for state arrivals.
Brisbane residents who do essential business must wear masks. Funerals and weddings are limited to 20 and 10 people respectively, while leisure venues will be closed and restaurants and cafés will only be able to take away.
Officials have identified and isolated 79 people who have close contacts with the hotel worker.
Morrison said all quarantine hotel workers would have daily COVID-19 tests.
Additional reports from Renju Jose; Edited by Robert Birsel