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More Victorian road-trippers nabbed in Qld

Tracey FerrierAAP
Dr Jeannette Young says the emergence of just one new coronavirus case is good news for Queensland.
Camera IconDr Jeannette Young says the emergence of just one new coronavirus case is good news for Queensland. Credit: AAP

Victorian road trippers are ignoring Queensland's coronavirus travel rules, entering the state without border passes or lying about where they have been.

Queensland is not yet out of the woods after a Melbourne couple left home during the city's lockdown and drove through NSW to Queensland while they were infectious.

On Friday, police revealed they have recently nabbed five other Victorians who flouted border pass rules. They've all been hit with $4000 fines for either not having passes, or lying on their passes.

The five have been forced into quarantine, and so far none have tested positive for the virus.

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Health Minister Yvette D'Ath had a warning for any other Victorians who could put Queenslanders at risk by breaking the rules.

"We will be making sure you are found. You cannot come into this state if you are from a hot spot and put our state at risk," she told reporters.

"We will make sure you face the consequences if you do that. Be respectful."

Police are yet to interview the Melbourne couple who sparked Queensland's latest coronavirus scare.

Authorities have expressed growing optimism that they have not infected anyone in Queensland, with no new cases reported on Friday.

But Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young says the state is not out of the woods yet, with 316 close contacts of the Melbourne couple identified so far.

The pair entered Queensland via Goondiwindi, and also went to Toowoomba before heading to see family in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast.

They later tested positive, and Dr Young says partial sequencing suggests they have the kappa variant, which is more infectious than previous variants.

She's encouraged by the fact their viral load was low, due to being at the end of their infections.

"That is reassuring but that doesn't mean they can't spread it."

That said, the absence of any transmission so far means she's "increasingly confident that we should be able to manage this issue in the Sunshine Coast".

In all, 959 people have been identified as having been at close contact or casual contact sites visited by the Melbourne couple. They are all isolating pending test results.

Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski says infection fears have stopped officers from interviewing the Melbourne couple "in terms of any offences".

But he said that should happen within the next few days or next week.

"We will put any allegations we have to those people and allow them to have a response before we take any further action."

He defended the use of random intercepts rather than physical checkpoints to detect illegal interstate arrivals, saying police target cars with Victorian number plates.

He said the five Victorians nabbed for border breaches included two women from Victoria who crossed into Queensland at Goondiwindi and travelled to the Darling Downs, in breach of directions.

There was also a man who entered Queensland via Coolangatta and made an untrue declaration, and two other people who were intercepted in the Wide Bay area with no border passes at all.

Earlier Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk took a shot at the infected Melbourne couple, telling them they should never have left home.

"There was a lockdown on ... they shouldn't have left Victoria. It just puts people at risk," she said.

Friday's figures showed Queensland had no new coronavirus cases either in the community or in hotel quarantine, with almost 6000 tests carried out in the past 24 hours and more than 11,000 vaccinations given.

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