• Brisbane will head into a three-day lockdown from Friday 8 January until Monday 11 January.
• It comes after a hotel quarantine cleaner tested positive to the highly contagious coronavirus strain from the UK.
• Masks will also have to be worn everywhere except inside homes.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Brisbane will enter a three-day lockdown after a quarantine hotel cleaner tested positive to the highly contagious coronavirus strain from the UK.

The lockdown comes into effect from 6pm tonight until 6pm Monday 11 January, and will included people in the Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, Redlands and Logan local government areas. They will only be allowed to leave their homes for work if they can’t work from home, for essential shopping, to look after the vulnerable and to exercise in their neighbourhood.

There will also be a limit of two visitors allowed in homes.

Further restrictions have also been put in place, with masks mandatory everywhere in those local government areas – including public transport and workplaces – unless you’re at home. Hospitality venues such as restaurants, pubs and cafes can only open for take-aways. Funerals can have a maximum of 20 guests, while weddings are restricted to 10. There can be no singing or dancing.

In addition, recreation and entertainment venues, cinemas and places of worship have to close.

“There are no second chances with this pandemic,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said in a statement. “That’s why I’m asking people to have a long weekend at home.

“We have learned from Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales that a short, sharp lockdown is better than a long one and this a more contagious strain. Three days is better than 30.”

Brisbane’s lockdown has also received approval from Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who described it as a “wise call”.

To allow more people to get tested, extra testing clinics with more staff have been opened. And for people planning to enter the greater Brisbane area – such as those needing healthcare – they will be subject to the same restrictions.

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