Queensland Health identifies two ‘distinct’ COVID clusters

Queensland health authorities have identified two distinct COVID-19 clusters as eight additional cases were recorded overnight Six of the new locally-acquired cases are linked, while the other two under investigation. Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young detailed the genomic sequencing of the new infections, confirming the two under investigation were potentially linked to an older case. She said genomic sequencing identified there were two separate clusters, one relating back to a doctor who contracted the virus treating a positive patient at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. Five of the six locally acquired cases overnight, however, were linked to a second cluster stemming from a nurse – who authorities believed contracted the virus while working at the PA Hospital. Dr Young said the nurse’s sister also became infected, and all new cases linked to the cluster had all attended a party down in Byron Bay – taking the case total in the second cluster to seven. Authorities said testing indicated the sixth community case detected overnight was also linked to a known case. “So we don’t have community transmission out there that we’re not aware of, at the moment all of our cases are linked to either the first cluster with that doctor who worked at the PA or this second cluster which is a brand new cluster, unrelated to that first cluster linked to the nurse who’s worked at PA,” Dr Young said.

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