A single case of COVID-19 sparked a countrywide anxiety

Within one day of a hotel cleaner being confirmed as having the UK variant of COVID-19, more than 2 million people are in lockdown, Greater Brisbane has been declared a hotspot “at a Commonwealth level” and several states have imposed travel restrictions on some Queenslanders.

Australians watched the highly transmissible COVID-19 variant spread across the UK, but this case signalled it was not only here, but also out in the community.

With so little known about the variant, or how to stop it spreading, the decision was made to place five local government areas into lockdown for three days.

Epidemiologist from the University of Queensland Linda Selvey said new strains of the virus meant wlearning to live with a degree of uncertainty and the potential for swift, sharp lockdowns.

“You just can’t guarantee anything. Nobody is really immune or free from the risk that this could happen in their community.”

Associate Professor Selvey said the fact the Brisbane case was confirmed as the more contagious strain of the virus changed everything.

“If it wasn’t this new variant, there wouldn’t be this kind of response,” she said. “There is quite a lot at stake and the idea is to stamp this out pretty quickly.”

She said although the Brisbane lockdown was announced after just one person was infected with the more contagious variant, the person had more than 70 close contacts over a number of days.

“The concern is that there may well be a whole lot of cases,” Associate Professor Selvey said. “This lockdown provides some breathing space and an opportunity to learn whether there are other cases and what’s actually going on.”