Dear colleagues,

Important Announcement – return travellers from New Zealand
An important announcement has been made by the Prime Minister this afternoon.

Queensland Health is asking that any person who has arrived in Queensland from New Zealand on or since 14 January 2021, including on green zone flights, to get tested for COVID-19 and quarantine until they receive a negative test result.

This comes after New Zealand recorded a confirmed positive COVID-19 case in a returned traveller who tested positive after completing the 14 days of hotel quarantine. The woman has since visited a number of locations in New Zealand.

The woman is confirmed to have the South African variant of COVID-19, which appears to be more contagious than previous variants.

Based on recent similar directives issued for NSW and Victoria, we expect this advice will result in a rise in activity across our Metro North Fever Clinics, and the need for additional staff to support the increased demand.

I thank everyone in advance for their efforts in rapidly mobilising the necessary resources to support the increase in presentations expected through our Fever Clinic in the coming days.

Where to get tested
To access a full list of COVID-19 testing locations, with interactive map and postcode search, visit: https://www.qld.gov.au/covid19testing.

Regards

Mark Butterworth
Metro North Deputy Incident Commander

Current MN Response Tier Activated – Tier 0

Metro North HHS – overview of Cases*

*With effect 25 January 2021, 0800
**Metro North has three recorded deaths (one person a return traveller into NSW, who passed away in NSW)
*** These numbers reflect the cases being managed by Metro North.