Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk wrongly told breakfast television that travellers arriving from New Zealand would no longer need to quarantine, with Channel 7’s Weekend Sunrise also questioning the advice on Saturday morning, as Brisbane Airport had advised them that travellers from New Zealand over the weekend, would have to enter the international airport terminal through what they call the “red zone” and enter quarantine in a medi-hotel for 14 days, with the “green zone” only for those passengers that did not have to quarantine.
The green zone and no quarantine exception is only in place for specific allocated flights, which do not include passengers who are connecting from other countries, the first of which is not scheduled to touch down in the Sunshine State until Wednesday.
The conflicting comments by the Premier created confusion at the Brisbane Airport and in medi-hotels where Queensland Health say some people may now be eligible for release if they entered the state from New Zealand in the last few days, with the key criteria being that they did so without mixing with other travellers from locations deemed as hotspots.
The flights from New Zealand arriving on Saturday include passengers who are connecting from other countries, meaning the requirements to skip quarantine won’t be met, with the quarantine-free flights needing to be specifically organised by New Zealand authorities, Queensland Health confirmed.
Queensland’s chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said. “Anyone who travels to Queensland from New Zealand on a quarantine-free flight, where every passenger has only been in New Zealand in the past 14 days, will not be required to quarantine on arrival,” adding, “Anyone who doesn’t travel on a quarantine-free flight is still subject to 14 days mandatory quarantine.”
She said, “We have a New Zealand flight arriving in Brisbane that isn’t a quarantine-free flight, which means those people will need to complete quarantine.”
Dr Young said some travellers may be in quarantine unnecessarily given the update to the travel restrictions, saying, “Our staff are working quickly on the ground to determine those who arrived in Queensland on a quarantine-free flight, so we can let them out of quarantine, provided they return a negative COVID-19 test,” adding, “Unfortunately, those who didn’t travel on a quarantine-free flight will need to complete their 14 days of quarantine, because they’ve mixed with travellers from other countries”, and “For the past 88 days, all of Queensland’s COVID-19 cases have been from overseas travellers and detected in hotel quarantine”, and “The risk is simply too high to end their quarantine early.”
An edited report by John Alwyn-Jones
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