Minogue avoids Queensland hotel quarantine, as Premier declares NSW hot spots
The NSW local government areas of Liverpool and Campbelltown will be declared COVID-19 hot spots from midday on Tuesday, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says.
This means anyone who has visited or come from these areas in the past two weeks will be refused entry into Queensland.
Medical staff at a pop-up COVID-19 testing clinic in Casula in NSW, where the local Crossroads Hotel is now a hot spot.Credit:David Gray - Getty
However, if the person in question is a Queensland resident, they will be allowed back into their home state but must go into two weeks' quarantine.
Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles, the state Deputy Premier, said the two areas were hot spots owing to 21 NSW cases being linked to the Crossroads Hotel, in the Liverpool local government area.
Meanwhile, Mr Miles confirmed Australian singer and television personality Dannii Minogue received a state government exemption and avoided hotel quarantine upon returning to Queensland from the US.
Speaking on ABC Radio Brisbane on Tuesday, Mr Miles said Ms Minogue was instead allowed to quarantine for two weeks in her own home.
Singer Dannii Minogue is allowed to quarantine in her own home, unlike most people returning to the Sunshine State.Credit:NETWORK SEVEN
"Anyone can apply for those exemptions and the Chief Health Officer [Dr Jeannette Young] considers all of the advice put to her from other medical professionals," Mr Miles said.
"In this case, I understand that the person in question is in quarantine and all of the quarantine conditions will be enforced on her.
"She has come from a high-risk location and so, like anyone arriving back from the United States, we need her to comply with those quarantine conditions.
"I understand she is quarantining at home under conditions put to her by Queensland Health."
Staying in her private residence, reportedly at the Gold Coast, means Ms Minogue will be spared having to pay $2800 in hotel quarantine costs enforced on others crossing the border.
Ms Palaszczuk said there were no new COVID-19 cases recorded in Queensland on Tuesday and there remained four active cases statewide. More than 425,000 people have been tested in the state.
However, Ms Palaszczuk said the main enemy of the state regarding the pandemic was "COVID complacency", with such a low number of active cases in Queensland.
The Premier said Queenslanders must maintain their vigilance regarding social distancing and testing rates, as other states try to manage multiple outbreaks.
The Australian Medical Association Queensland warned closing the Queensland borders and nightclubs for a second time is "not completely out of the question".
Addressing the inquiry into the state government’s COVID-19 health response on Monday, AMAQ president Dr Chris Perry said another mass closure could happen "in the next week or next month".
"We have to watch social distancing in nightclubs and restaurants [and] waiting outside the nightclubs, that might need to be policed a little bit more," Dr Perry told the inquiry.
"We will watch what happens in Victoria and it’s not completely out of the question that our borders may need to close again in the next week or next month and the nightclubs may need to close down."
Queensland nightclubs reopened little more than a week ago after several months of COVID-19 closure. Guests are allowed to order drinks at the bar, but dancing and gathering on the dance-floors are banned.
Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said police had issued three venues with $6600 fines for rule breaches and a number of people were escorted out of venues for dancing.