Covid 19 coronavirus: Unvaccinated Queensland hospital worker spreads Delta variant as Australia battles widespread outbreaks

A health worker conducts a Covid-19 test in Brisbane. Photo / News Corp Australia

Queensland has recorded three new locally acquired Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number in the cluster to 18.

Of the cases, one is the brother of the hospital worker which was announced this morning, one is a close contact of the Portuguese restaurant cluster who was already in isolation, and the third is a close contact of the Virgin crew member.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said contact tracing would be crucial over the coming days.

"So, our mission over the next three days is to do that contact tracing and make sure that we have everyone who is a close contact," she said.

"So if you have been to any of those exposure sites, and Dr Young will run through some of those as well, make sure you have a look at those.

"They're getting updated regularly. But we may miss some of them. Please go and check on the Queensland Health website as quickly as possible."

Wednesday 30 June – coronavirus cases in Queensland:

Three new locally acquired cases.

One new overseas acquired case.#covid19 pic.twitter.com/tqRppCXIo6

— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) June 30, 2021

Reports of South Australia cases

There are unconfirmed reports that South Australia may be heading into a lockdown after reportedly confirming five Covid-19 cases.

Hearing South Australia is going to go into lockdown today, a family of 5 are Covid positive. Media conference will be called shortly. @SBSNews

— Shuba Krishnan (@ShubaSKrishnan) June 29, 2021

NCA NewsWire has reported that at least one new locally acquired infection is expected to be announced later on Wednesday, quoting sources as saying the state has recorded new local cases for the first time since November last year.

SA Health workers are scrambling to determine the source of the infection and how many other community members were in contact with the person.

As of Tuesday, the state had gone 211 days without recorded any community transmission; the last was related to the Parafield cluster that threw the state into a three-day lockdown in November last year.

Four states and territories in lockdown

Four Australian states and territories have now introduced lockdown orders over concerns of the growing number of Covid-19 cases across the country.

There are currently lockdown restrictions in place across NSW's Greater Sydney (including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast Wollongong and Shellharbour); the Northern Territory's Greater Darwin area; Queensland's southeast, Townsville (including Magnetic Island) and Palm Island; and Western Australia's Perth and Peel regions.

This adds up to more than 12 millions Aussies under lockdown, almost half of the country's population.

The widespread nature of the cases has sparked concerns the outbreaks could continue to spread across the country if not stopped quickly.