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Southeast Queensland will be lifted out of lockdown while stay-at-home orders will be enforced in Cairns for the next three days over a mystery case with a taxi driver testing positive to Covid-19.  

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the lockdown would be lifted for 11 local government areas after the state reported nine new cases on Sunday. 

The regions include City of Brisbane, Moreton Bay Region, City of Gold Coast, City of Ipswich, Lockyer Valley Regional Council, Logan City, Noosa Shire Council, Redland City, Scenic Rim Regional Council, Somerset Regional Council and Sunshine Coast Regional Council. 

While the case numbers are low enough to lift lockdown some restrictions - including the face mask mandate and limits on household gatherings - will remain in place.  

Seven of the new cases were linked to the Indooroopilly cluster while another one was identified as a Gold Coast woman who had low virus levels. 

The final case, a Cairns taxi driver, has worried health authorities who have no idea how he caught the virus.

It has prompted a snap three day lockdown in Cairns and Yarrabah local government areas that will begin at 4pm today. 

The driver had been in the community while infectious for 10 days raising fears that he could have spread the virus.  

Southeast Queensland will be lifted out of lockdown while stay-at-home orders will be enforced in Cairns for the next three days over a mystery case after a taxi driver tested positive to Covid-19

State premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the lockdown would be lifted for 11 local government areas after the state reported nine new cases on Sunday

The mystery case - which has been identified as a taxi driver - has prompted a snap three day lockdown in Cairns and Yarrabah local government areas

'Now, we're concerned about this,' Ms Palaszczuk said. 'It is a taxi driver, and he has been infectious in the community for about 10 days.' 

'This discovery of a positive case in Cairns is something that we were not expecting, and we really need the residence of Cairns to come forward with any symptoms and get tested.' 

Ms Palaszczuk said the lockdown rules would be similar to southeast Queensland - with residents confined to their homes and unable to leave unless for essential reasons.

There will be one difference in the set of restrictions with Cairns and Yarrabah residents allowed to invite two visitors to their homes. 

Chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young warned that delaying the lockdown could have terrible consequences for the region.

'If I were to wait another 24 hours, that is another 24 hours there might have been people infectious out and about,' she said. 'So this [lockdown] is to try to contain it and get on top of it as quickly as possible.

'If we don't see any more cases, we can reassess.'

She said the taxi driver had visited a number of venues including the Brothers League Club.

'He worked as a taxi driver from July 31 through to August 4,' she said.

'But that is relatively controlled because we can then work with the taxi agency to work out who was in his taxi cab.'

'We will be putting up all of these venues on our website. He has been out and about, he has been living his normal life.' 

Dr Young said it was pivotal to ramp up the number of Covid-19 tests conducted in the area to try and get ahead of the spread of the virus. 

Ms Palaszczuk said a number of restrictions, including the face mask mandate, will remain in place for the 11 local government areas in southeast Queensland for the next two weeks

The regions to be lifted out of lockdown include City of Brisbane, Moreton Bay Region, City of Gold Coast, City of Ipswich, Lockyer Valley Regional Council, Logan City, Noosa Shire Council, Redland City, Scenic Rim Regional Council, Somerset Regional Council and Sunshine Coast Regional Council 

'The private pathology sector has been with us every step of the way since the start of this pandemic and have been absolutely brilliant,' she said.

'Yet again we've asked them and they've ramped up testing.' 

Ms Palaszczuk threw her support behind the community and acknowledged the challenge they faced as they prepared to go into lockdown.

'The Cairns community: I know you can do this, I know it is going to be tough, but the next three days, I need you to stay at home, minimise your movements, let's test, test and test as much as we possibly can, and then we can evaluate that over the next three days to see if there are any more cases out there,' she said. 

While the 11 local government areas in southeast Queensland prepare to leave lockdown residents will still be required to adhere to several restrictions over the next two weeks.  

Schools will reopen though students and teachers will be required to wear face masks. 

Residents will be able to have up to 10 people in their homes and hospital and aged care visits will be allowed.

Weddings and funerals will be allowed a maximum of 20 guests and the one person per four square metre rule will apply in venues or 50 per cent capacity with venues with allocated seating. 

Dr Young turned her attention to the new case identified on the Gold Coast. She said even though the woman had a low virus level it was important for residents to remain vigilant of flu-like symptoms.  

Chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young previously said she would decide if restrictions would be rolled back after reviewing Sunday's case numbers 

'So it is really, really important today that anybody down in the Gold Coast with any symptoms at all, please come forward and get tested, so we can work out what has happened there and whether there has been any spread,' she said.

'That is absolutely critical.'

The risk posed by the Delta variant has also convinced authorities to prioritise vaccinations for daycare and school staff, fly-in fly-out workers, and freight and distribution centre workers.

Ms Palaszczuk says those groups have been added to the 'high risk' category meaning they will go to the front of the vaccination queue.

'The Delta strain has taken a heavy toll on our schools and we need to provide the best possible protection for staff and students,' the premier said.

'This strain of the virus moves incredibly quickly, and we need to be just as fast in our response.' 

Queenslanders were days earlier being told they should avoid online shopping so delivery drivers wouldn't have to leave their homes.

Queensland recorded 13 new locally acquired cases on Saturday, all associated with the schools at Indooroopilly, Spring Hill, and St Lucia on the northern side of the Brisbane River

Chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young argued it would be better for residents to hold off on all non-essential purchases to reduce the risk of contact between customers and delivery drivers.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles reiterated the message that residents should only be leaving their homes if it was absolutely necessary.

'It has to be essential and the onus is on the individual to have a reason to leave their home, not on retailers or businesses,' he said at a press conference on Wednesday.

'Now is not the time to buy outdoor furniture. There will be time before summer to get sun lounges.'  

Dr Young previously said she would decide if restrictions would be rolled back after reviewing Sunday's case numbers. 

All new infections have been linked to the Indooroopilly cluster, in Brisbane's west, and most if not all new cases have been isolating while infectious.

Queensland recorded 13 new locally acquired cases on Saturday, all associated with the schools at Indooroopilly, Spring Hill, and St Lucia on the northern side of the Brisbane River.

All were in isolation while infectious.

Three are linked to a karate club that trains at Indooroopilly State High School, and four are household contacts linked to cases at the high school.

Five others are household contacts linked to Ironside State School, and one is a close contact associated with Brisbane Boys Grammar School.

All new infections have been linked to the Indooroopilly cluster, in Brisbane's west, and most if not all new cases have been isolating while infectious

There are now 102 cases linked to the so-called Indooroopilly cluster.

Dr Young has warned others will emerge among the more than 10,000 people currently in home quarantine.

Some families face extended periods in isolation as the virus jumps from one member to the next, resetting the two-week quarantine clock each time.

'This is going to be a lengthy time for some of those people, because as each person in the household becomes positive, quarantine then extends for another 14 days from that point,' Dr Young said on Saturday.

'It is absolutely critical that no-one from any of those households goes out into the community.'

With case numbers in NSW hitting a record of 319 on Saturday, Queensland police have repeated warnings that anyone crossing the border will face intense scrutiny.

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath expressed her disgust after two paramedics were forced into isolation after coming into contact with an unauthorised arrival from NSW.

'If you turn up at the border without the proper exemptions you will end up in hotel quarantine,' she told would-be travellers from NSW and Victoria.

Meanwhile, police have caught a woman who escaped from a quarantine hotel on the Gold Coast on Tuesday.

Officers say she had been in a COVID-19 hotspot in NSW before she illegally entered Queensland.

She was caught at Caboolture, north of Brisbane on Saturday, after a tip off from the public.

There were 40,835 tests carried out in Queensland in the 24 hours to 6am Saturday, and police patrolling the border intercepted more than 10,000 vehicles

Some families face extended periods in isolation as the virus jumps from one member to the next, resetting the two-week quarantine clock each time

Dr Young hopes the risk is low because the woman returned a negative test before she escaped from the hotel by forcing open a glass door.

Meanwhile, two people have copped hefty fines after they left lockdown in the southeast corner and travelled to Mackay to attend a party.

In the regional city of Rockhampton, there are encouraging signs the virus has not been widely transmitted after an infected woman travelled there for work.

All her close contacts have so far tested negative, five days into their quarantine period.

But Dr Young is less comfortable about the situation in Cairns, where a reef pilot was recently active in the community while infectious.

She wants anyone who is unwell in the Cairns area to immediately get tested so she can be more confident the virus isn't spreading unchecked there.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is due to be released from hotel quarantine on Sunday morning after she returned a final negative test following her trip to Tokyo for the Olympics.

There were 40,835 tests carried out in Queensland in the 24 hours to 6am Saturday, and police patrolling the border intercepted more than 10,000 vehicles.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is due to be released from hotel quarantine on Sunday morning after she returned a final negative test following her trip to Tokyo for the Olympics (pictured, Brisbane residents queuing outside Lune Croissanterie despite lockdown orders)