27 March 2021

Dear colleagues,

There’s been one new case of community transmission identified overnight. This new case is a close contact of the case announced on Friday, with both cases based within North Brisbane.

These two new cases are both of the B.1.1.7 lineage (commonly known as UK Variant) and connected to the case identified two weeks ago on Brisbane’s south-side and two cases in hotel quarantine that were subsequently admitted. Because of the timeframes involved and the missing link between these cases, there continues to be a good deal of work being undertaken to identify any additional cases in our community.

Testing remains essential for anyone with even the most minor of COVID-19 symptoms.

Contact locations and sites 

With contact tracing underway in relation to this new case, we should expect the list of close and casual contact locations to mature and grow over the next 24-48 hours. Please keep yourself informed of these through the contact tracing alerts website.

Fever Clinics 

Our Fever Clinics continue to manage high demand for testing, after 1340 tests yesterday.  Today, we completed over 1000 tests. This surge in testing demand is a good sign that our community is doing the right thing.

We continue to actively monitor the wait times at our Fever Clinics closely. At clinics where there have been long lines for testing, we’ve been providing information around alternative locations and doing what we can to share the load between our clinics and all available community clinics.

Earlier today, we put messaging out on our Facebook page to encourage people to consider all of their testing options – including drive-thru clinic options at Bowen Hills, Herston, and Brendale.

We can expect this surge in demand to continue for at least the next 24-48 hours. Thank you to everyone who has helped us expand our testing capacity and extend our fever clinic hours.

Without hesitation, I recommend you all remain alert but not alarmed! Stay safe, wash your hands, physically distance, wear a mask when you can’t avoid a crowded space and get tested if you need to.

Regards,

Dr Liz Rushbrook
Metro North Incident Controller

Metro North HHS – overview of cases*

*With effect 27 March 2021, 1200
**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.