• Queensland counted two new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 overnight, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
• Both are linked to pre-existing clusters, which Palaszczuk called “encouraging news”.
• The Greater Brisbane region remains under lockdown, but Palaszczuk said if there is “encouraging news tomorrow, we will be lifting the hotspot”.
  
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Queensland has counted two new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced Wednesday morning, calling the results “encouraging news” during Greater Brisbane’s snap lockdown.

Speaking in Brisbane Wednesday morning, Palaszczuk said those cases were both linked to a nurse at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital, who was previously identified as the first case in one of Queensland’s two active COVID-19 clusters.

“The fact that we do not have any unlinked community transmission in the south-east or in our state is absolutely encouraging news,” she said.

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young said both clusters “look like they’ve all been worked through” by the state’s contact tracing teams.

The clusters now include 17 confirmed cases.

The news comes two days into Greater Brisbane’s snap three-day lockdown, which threatens to curtail travel plans across the nation ahead of the Easter long weekend.

“If it’s encouraging news tomorrow, we will be lifting the hotspot for Greater Brisbane,” Palaszczuk said.

The Greater Brisbane area — comprising the local government areas of Brisbane City, Logan, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, and Redland — began its initial three-day lockdown at 5pm AEST Monday.

Residents of those regions are only permitted to leave the home to obtain essential supplies and services, provide assistance to vulnerable people, attend work or childcare, and exercise.

Non-essential businesses, including cinemas, recreation venues, hairdressers, and gyms, were ordered to close, while restaurants and cafes were permitted to serve take-away only.

Schools closed until the new term, except for vulnerable students or the children of essential workers. Places of worship also shut their doors.

An indoor mask mandate was reinforced statewide, with private gatherings limited to 30 people.

On Monday, Palaszczuk said the “circuit breaker” lockdown was designed to limit community transmission while the state’s contact tracers identified potential close contacts.

“I know it’s difficult, but we don’t implement these measures lightly,” Palaszczuk said at the time.

“We want to keep Queenslanders safe.”

Victoria, Western Australia, the ACT, South Australia, and Tasmania all introduced new QLD border restrictions in response to the outbreaks, and the Federal Government yesterday declared the Greater Brisbane region a COVID-19 hotspot.

More to come.

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