Queensland COVID update | 7NEWS
The Department of Health's website Yeah, just waiting for this announcement. Basically, do you want to hear this? Just here? Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Welcome to Brisbane Airport. My name is that spells
G E R T hyphen J A N space D E space G R double A double F. Again, welcome to Brisbane Airport. This is a fantastic and great day for the airport and the airport community.
Because we're open again for international traffic, for international travellers. Which is fantastic. Especially for Australian travellers. Um people that have an Australian passport are permanent residents. This is big news They're able to travel back into Australia without having to go into quarantine. And it means they can flow through the terminal in a split second.
It's also very good news, a very important news for students and for skilled workers. Because they will have that same privilege to arrive in Brisbane and go immediately into the community. And please keep your bags with you. Please do. This is an operating
environment as you can see. So it's always a little bit challenging. Um with announcements. Um so
my apologies for that. Uh but we will pick up in a split second. Um this terminal up until last night was a terminal that consisted of two parts. A green and red zone. We had
barricades, temporary walls, we had a lot of police officers and Queensland Health in the terminal. And as you can see today, the terminal is back to where it was before COVID. It feels really good for the airport community. It feels really good for all people working here. We will see
stores opening again after being closed for two years. Um we will see People working in this terminal again after being stood down or inactive for a very long time. Which is fantastic news for all families involved and for all people involved. A lot of people are
asking us how long is recovery going to take this when will the airlines be back? When will the people travel again? Well, I have to say that will take a little while. This is fantastic news and it's a very good start and it's more than a glimmer of hope. It's it indicates that there's light at the end of the tunnel. Um but is going to take three to five years to be back to pre-covid levels. The reasons for that are that initially still there are large parts of the globe where people cannot travel freely into Australia. Um up until the
moment that visitors and that's for leisure reasons or business reasons. Can travel freely to Australia. We will see relatively low passenger volumes. But I will increase compare to today. The second
reason is now Australians cannot travel to all countries in the world. The most important markets for Australia, the most important markets for Brisbane Airport. New Zealand, China, Japan, India, Singapore, and even Bali are still very difficult to travel to. But that will change and that's all good. So if that changes, if we will be able to welcome visitors back into our country. And at the same time,
we will be able to fly freely. to those other markets in the world, we will see recovery happening. Most important thing is consumer confidence. People need to be confident to travel again. But I'm sure that that
will happen. So, up until yesterday, we saw about 5 00 international travellers daily here at Brisbane Airport. Today, that's already more than a thousand. So, that's double the number we had. Which is great news. But it's still a long way to go before it reached the 17 000 we had before COVID. But we will get there. We will definitely
get there because we're very well positioned worldwide. To welcome all those travellers back to Brisbane. And I know that my friends, people I work with, they're really keen to travel out of the country again as well. We're very well positioned as Brisbane, as Queensland. We've got a
beautiful state to visit but we need to work hard and collaboratively to make sure that our airline partners are coming back to Brisbane. Before COVID, we had twenty-nine airlines flying to thirty-four destinations. Today, we've got only ten airlines flying to eleven destinations and some of those airlines are only flying freight. So, again, we to work really hard with team Queensland to get all those airlines that were flying to Brisbane Airport prior to COVID back again. I said that's a collaborative effort that it requires. Team Queensland. And
therefore I've asked the minister and his team at state government to work with us and to co-fund a campaign to get those airlines back into Brisbane. Locs are assured, we're very excited about what's happening today. Um we saw the first quarantine free flight arriving just moments ago. That was an Air New Guinea flight. We will see a flight of Singapore Airlines in a few moments coming out of customs as well. Um which is great news
for all people involved. few more things that are happening that are really positive. Um we will see amateur airlines increasing their operation from the 2nd of March. They're bringing back the A 380 in July. Singapore Airlines adding 3 daily flights in February.
And Fiji Airways will restart their flights tomorrow. And a little bit later in this conference I will give John Nichol the opportunity to answer a few of your questions. He represents Fiji Airways here at Brisbane Airport. thank you all for being here. Thank you
all for being part of this glorious moment for Brisbane Airport and for our industry. And thank you all. I'm happy to take questions if you haven't. Um without further ado, I would like to invite Minister Sterling Hinchliffe to say a few words as well. Thank you. Thank you Kurt Yarn. Ah and good to be here with you ah ah John Nickel from Fiji Airlines.
Ah it is a wonderful to see ah today the international borders being reopened in a such a way that allows for that free movement for vaccinated individuals ah to be able to come into Queensland and ah not have to ah go into any form of quarantine. Um it's really positive that we'll have ah these first flights here today here at ah Brisbane Airport. And we'll see over ah the next week ah flights into all of our international airports throughout Queensland are are receiving ah a passengers and seeing them reuniting with family, getting back to their studies, all getting to work and hopefully soon we'll see a lot more tourists making sure that we can see this as the real light at the end of the tunnel for the Queensland $six billion dollar tourism industry. Um but most importantly I I'm very focused today on on welcoming those particularly on that first Singapore Airlines flight. Welcoming those people who'll come in and might be students. Some of the 30, 000 ah people enrolled in Queensland universities and institutions.
Uh who can return to face to face studies. Uh that's a really welcome opportunity and doing that without having to without having to quarantine is very very welcome for those institutions and for those students. And that's a very importantly good news for the whole of the Queensland economy because the very important role that international students play. Um in our in in our workforce as well. Uh so for those particularly businesses in the hospitality industry that have found it difficult to maintain operations with staffing levels. This'll be a welcome boom for them as this redevelops as well. Uh I I can
with Gert Yarn's commentary about the way in which this will be a slow rebuild for our our tourism industry but a very welcome one. And this is the thing that provides the confidence for allowing people to ah ah look forward ah to invest to make sure that we're ready for the opportunities as they rebuild. But they won't rebuild immediately and that's where we need to work together and I I welcome Kurt's ah ah ah Gurt Yarn's ah approaches and the approaches of others in the tourism industry to work with government and we need to work closely across the whole of team Queensland indeed team Australia to ah rebuild our tourism industry right across the state. Ah so happy to
answer any questions around ah the tourism industry at this before we go into our our COVID brief ah in a in a short period of time. Well, when when we see the the borders opening to those markets that that that make that possible. Uh finally, that will be in terms of those different markets. That will be
a matter for the Australian Government about when when we open up to some of those different markets but I'm very hopeful with markets like Singapore to start with that we do see tourist return. Uh the first blush of these international arrivals taking advantage of vaccinated arrivals not being able to quarantine will be reuniting a family and that's very welcome. Uh students and workforce. Uh but we will see tourists coming soon. Um and that'll be a really welcome thing for those particularly those parts of the Queensland tourist economy that have been so impacted by the national border closures for so long.
there there that's part of the the the process that the Queensland Police Service will would be managing and they do spot checks around those sorts of things. it it it is it is certainly a requirement for people to make those declarations upon their arrivals and and in are coming into to the terminal and their matters that have been administered by the Queensland Police Service. How much money industry lost because of COVID I only say it's a slow yield but what do you think Yeah look we're we haven't fully modelled those things at this point. We're working closely with ah the tourism sector and and ah ah you know more broadly across the sector and and you know our government agencies like ah Tourism and Events Queensland to work on how we work closely with the sector to to rebuild that international marketplace. We've done a really great job at sustaining so many parts of our tourism industry in Queensland through domestic travel. Ah and that's been very important to our our our ah our our sector but the international borders reopening is a great opportunity and we want to see that rebuilt further particularly for those sectors that have been very focused on that on that international economy and those international tourists.
Queensland has four of the top ten survey, Sunshine Coast, Whitsundays and Easter and Cairns. Um you see a report from the Tourism Sentiment Index. Um what's your reaction to this and and how's really those areas with international Well, I'm not surprised at all because Queensland of course would top the polls as being one of the best places in the world to visit and one of the places that people have a great desire to. So, we want to build that desire, build that capability of responding to it and make sure people get to enjoy the fantastic places and experiences that we have to share with the world and those destinations are right up there with them. I'm just surprised
it's not ten out of ten. Even though people arriving here are double drugs. Um some of those people will inevitably be sick and Isn't that then putting against Australia Uh obviously the the the screening processes that are put in place and requirements are the the best possible measures that we've had in place. This is this has been done on the basis of the public health advice. Um but we don't see this as being you know a great burden on the nature of the the of our health system.
Um we hear we've heard already from Gert Yarn that those numbers are are unmodest compared to the usual international inbound numbers at this point in time. We don't expect that to grow massively quickly as Gert Jan has has attested to as well. Where we know that this is something that's going to positively impact on our community and our economy particularly their family and friends being reunited. The people say report. Um you've obviously
read that for Uh these are matters that the Premier addressed yesterday and and we'll be discussing that as a government in the very near future and I look forward to contributing to that. So what's your own? Uh I think it's a matter that we need to discuss as a government and I I look forward to discussing the the the report. Like that. John, did you, did anyone have any questions for John Nickel from Fiji Airways before we go on? Yes, we're happy to advise that as of tomorrow, we've got a full ship coming in from Nandi, Fiji and then moving forward, we've got in February and March, five flights a week. Uh between Brisbane. Brisbane is a very important market for us as well. Uh hence the reason
why we're jumping to the opportunity so quickly. Uh so we're five services February match and then as from April, it will be daily services. Tomorrow ah it will be mainly ah ah citizens returning. Uh they've been waiting for this time to open. So, they are
coming tomorrow. February and March we're looking at tourists combination of tourist and VFR market. Yeah. Sorry? The campaign. Oh yeah. Yeah. We've got you know to introduce these services. We've got some fantastic offer in in market now. Uh we've got a three-day sale right on now to go inside with the opening of Brisbane. Uh
packages have been reduced by about 70%. it won't last long. So, grab the opportunity while it's there. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks, John. Any questions for me? You know, that's that's just a worldwide global estimate of how long it will take to to for the aviation industry to recover completely. Um again, what I
said still there are a lot of restrictions worldwide that prohibit travel or make travel really difficult. Um and will make travel a little bit more expensive. So, that's that's an important factor. Second is, we
don't know if all economies, if all airlines will come out of COVID and the COVID pandemic in shape as they were before Um and the third is it will take a while to build, rebuild consumer confidence and make people travelling again. So that's why we believe that it will take about three to five years for the aviation industry to be back at 2019 levels. Uh hopefully I'm a little bit too conservative. Hopefully I'm a
little bit too negative but that's that's worldwide the idea that the gradual improvement of our or recovery of our industry will take that long. Thank you. Thanks, Rohan. Thank you. I think the Chief Health Officer are going to slightly reset. So after
talking about the opportunity of seeing the the international borders reopen and what that means for the Queensland's economy. Uh it is important that we continue to update the community around the impacts of the the pandemic. Uh today, I can advise that there have been 15, 000 and 50 new cases reported to Queensland Health and very sadly, there have been ten deaths in the last 24 hours Uh this is terrible news for the families and friends of those that have been affected by those deaths. Uh can I pass on my condolences and condolences to the government.
Um I think you don't want to hear from me any further. I think we'll hand over to the Chief Health Officer for a more detailed report and to be able to between he and I answer any questions you have. Uh thank you very much Minister. Sadly we have ten deaths to report today. Uh one woman in her 40s, one in her one person in their 50s, six in their 80s, and two in their nineties. Of these three heads,
oh sorry, one was unvaccinated, six had received two two doses, and three had received boosters. in terms of hospital care we now have 8 8-four people in hospital being treated for covid-19, which is up from 855 yesterday. And this includes 52 patients in intensive care unit which is actually down a bit from fifty-four yesterday. Of the 52 patients we have an intensive care ah today ah eighteen of them are on ventilators. But perhaps the most positive news in the last 24 hours with regard to covid-19 is the fact that the pandemic or the this current wave of the pandemic has clearly peaked in New South Wales. It has clearly peaked. And it's turning the corner in New South Wales just over the border. Just a just a
relatively small distance from here. The modelling we have for Queensland is very similar to the modelling used for New South Wales. And so what we can we are we are still very confident in our current modelling of what is going to happen globally with Queensland. We're about two weeks behind New South Wales in terms of the pandemic wave. Uh
that's globally Queensland. Although we we expect the pandemic to affect different areas at different times. The Gold Coast for example the Gold Coast for example was is ahead of the rest of Queensland and it could be as early as the next few days. Sometime this
coming week when the pandemic will peak on the Gold Coast. And in Metropolitan Brisbane is likely to follow maybe a week, a few days, or a week after that. That is our current projections. Um now I would remind everybody that we are talking about a peak. The peak
is not the end. The peak is the high point of transmission. And then and high points particularly of of admissions to hospital. What will happen over the ensuing weeks is that the number of cases likely to fall at about the same rate as it is risen. Although a slight
caveat on that is that with the opening of schools there's likely to be some some more transmission associated with the with the return to schools. But again I just want to emphasize this is very definitely positive news from New South Wales that they have ah clearly reached the peak of the pandemic wave there. And they're modelling very similar to ours. So overall Queensland was likely to reach its peak about two weeks after New South Wales and we're likely to see the peak in in the Gold Coast first of all probably sometime in the next seven days and we're looking very closely on a day-by-day basis at the data coming out of the Gold Coast.
Thank you very much. checking out the news to notify Look, I mean, I know people are very concerned about the Check-In app. We don't want to change any of the public health and social measures until we're over this current wave. So, we
have that in place. We're not going to change it until we're over that this wave. We will then review all our public health and social measures that at that time. The the check-in app is certainly extremely useful for identifying your your vaccination status and we also in a record for yourself of keeping where you have been.
A notice of where you been particularly have if there have been super spreader events. But it is we do not want to start changing public health and social measures right now just as we're about to to approach our peak. We'll look at all of this after we've passed the peak. I I can't tell you specifically in the last couple of weeks. I can't tell you that specifically. But I I I really
must emphasize we don't want to start stopping the measures now. Uh because then if we have to if we did for some reason have to put them back in again later. This would be very difficult. This this is New South Wales for example withdrew their measures a bit of early. We don't want to be doing that. We don't want to be
changing things right as we're approaching the peak. We we'll review all of this in the next couple of weeks. Two three weeks. Um this is this is not the time to be changing this.
This is the what we are doing at the moment is we believe is working. And we that that we are going to reach out our pandemic peak for Queensland in general in the next couple of weeks. Um now this will not be uniform across Queensland. As
I've mentioned before Gold Coast is likely to be the first followed by Metropolitan Brisbane, perhaps Cairns, then more of the regional centres are likely to follow some time after that. So it won't be uniform but the news from New South Wales is certainly very positive. Is that potentially there could be more transmission around school we and and what's your thoughts around potential team? They're definitely they definitely will be transmission when schools return. We all know that or any
any parent knows that as soon as schools return there's transmission of whatever virus is going around. Uh whether it will be a a an equally sized peak or not. Uh I don't think we know that yet. But it does I
again affirm and it affir the decision to delay the opening of schools until after the projected peak which was exactly when we the the schools were going to open. So schools were going to open next week. Uh which is when we expect Gold Coast to peak and then and then Brisbane shortly thereafter. So I am very confident that the decision to delay the school's opening by two weeks was a very sound public health measure. We've got the blues for another two weeks. Potentially at least
a month before there's any injuries. We will review it. We're reviewing it. We will review it as it is clear we have passed the peak. It's not this is not the time to be changing public health and social measures. In terms of the definition of the spreader event. What what We we are not we are we are not changing anything for the moment. We
just the the the application is there. We are not going to alter it as we approach Vic. This is not the time to be making significant changes in our processes. Um there won't be any entertaining that there's anything that vaccine medical up will pass the people. Oh I think there won't be any entertainment of easing the mandate for some time. We've gotta be clear that this pandemic is under control. What
happens going forward after this wave? That is not clear. We don't we don't know. Um we will always plan for the worst and hope for the best. So so it it is conceivable that there might be another wave in the winter time as as the as the weather becomes cooler. There
may or may not but we don't know. But we would I would certainly be be planning for that. We are certainly planning for that in Queensland health. Even though it may not happen. There's there's there are protesters that are meant to be out now today and I'm sure they'll make mention of the fact that they're once we got to certain rates you know the the restrictions this vote was supposed to ease. What's your message for those people out there who weren't aren't vaccinated and and are hoping to get their freedoms back? Oh I I the unvaccinated people are putting their lives at risk and they're putting the healthcare system at risk on a day by day basis. Unvaccinated people are
very clearly overrepresented in our hospitals and our intensive care units. If you're unvaccinated you're 24 times more likely to end up in intensive care units in Queensland at the moment. No no it is a very bad idea not to be vaccinated at the moment as we're approaching the peak of a pandemic.
I I sorry I don't have that information specifically. I mean as more and more people get vaccinated as more and more people get vaccinated. As the majority of the population get vaccinated you will see more the some many of the of the deaths and hospitalisations will be in vaccinated people. That's just because of the proportion. But the probability
of of dying or of be or of ending in intensive care or in hospitals is very substantially higher if you are unvaccinated. The best and upsetting stories coming out Yeah, look, I'm very, I'm very sorry if this, I read this story this morning. I'm I'm very sorry if this lady had a bad experience in one of our hospitals. Um we do have pros. We we have a lot of mothers with COVID or suspected COVID being managed very successfully in our hospitals and our policies are very solidly that the baby stays with the mother. There may be some specific circumstances where a baby may be separated from a mother with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. For example, where
the where a baby may have to go to the neonatal intensive care unit. That's a sort of and then they maybe a time when the mother needs to be separated. The general principle though is mothers and babies are not separated in our hospitals. We've we've been managing quite a few mothers with covid-19 and suspected COVID-19. we've wanted to have support They pregnant mothers can have support people with them. Yes.
That was just changed yesterday. It was it was clarified yesterday yes. Is there some other places that? Oh, I think it was just a question of clarification. I mean, men, it was, it was really just clarification that mothers could have a support person in in with them. Uh it
was because of the we're talking about this is positive mothers with. Yes. Um again, just a clarification because different hospitals were doing slightly different things. It was just a clarification in the in the direction. So, is there a a one rule for all and are you certain that every ah they are very clear. There are very
clear guidelines. Very well written guidelines and clear guidelines on the management of mothers in ah Queensland hospitals. You can Google it yourself. It's very clear and very very well laid out that I think other jurisdictions have actually copied. So ah I as far as I know all well we we will we are reaffirming with hospitals that they follow those guidelines. But I'm I
think all maternity units are very well of a well aware of those guidelines. Now if this this if this mother had a a bad experience I'm I'm very sorry. I I I'm sorry the naked says I'm sad for that. But ah there may have been specific circumstances. Say for example
if the baby had to go to an intensive neonatal intensive care unit but as a general principle, mothers are not separated from their babies in in hospital even if the mother is positive. there might be some people out there that you know are hearing the message that we're heading towards our peak and perhaps they might decide that they don't want to get vaccinated because what's your message to them in terms of you know when you lean past our people why should they get vaccinated? Because the vaccine the virus I'll say that again because the virus is not going to go away. The virus is going to be with us probably forever.
So if you're not you're at some point you're either going to have to get ah vaccinated or you're going to get infected. It's going to be with us forever. So you can't you won't be able to hide from this virus. It's going to continue to circulate. But what is
happening now is we have an increasing amount of immunity developing in in our community. Both main mainly from vaccination but also from natural infection. Uh and so the virus is likely to continue to circulate in in small quantities for forever. For years to come. And anyone who is non-immune is will continue to be susceptible. Yep. Yep. If
somebody who maybe has had two doses of up. Contracts the virus. Yeah. So they've got an increased Yep. we recommend that they have a booster because we there is evidence that the booster gives you a better immunity than natural infection but that is the current recommendation. Are
we international arrivals coming? Um obviously, they're just vaccinated but it is some of those people are going to be infected we need to Some. Some. It's a very small proportion. It's a in the in in the in the scheme of the number of people that have been are infected in this country at the moment which is probably in the millions. The number of people who are actually being hospitalized is tiny. It's just that we have a very we have a very small proportion of a very large number. It can give you a large give you a large number.
So any individual, any vaccinated individual probability of ending up in is very small. So, any, so I'll say that again, any vaccinated individuals probability of ending up in hospital with covid-19 is very small. It's just at the moment we have very large numbers of people with covid-19 in the community. In Queensland, for example, we have confirmed, diagnosed cases of covid-19, about a quarter of a million. So, say that again. In Queensland, since opening the domestic borders, we have confirmed cases of covid-19, number about a quarter of a million. About around that number. The real number is
substantially greater than that. It's it's very large number. It's almost certainly greater than a million. We don't know the true number. Uh because not everybody's getting tested. Either because their
symptoms are mild. They don't recognise the symptoms. They don't seek to be tested or they can't get access to a test.
That's the other thing. So the end of the an individual's probability of ending up in hospital if they are vaccinated is tiny that's much greater if you are if you are unvaccinated. What we're it's interesting. What we're seeing in hospitals with the unvaccinated. It looks like COVID-19 from a year ago. So
the average age of someone who is unvaccinated being admitted to hospital with covid-19 is about 20 years younger than somebody who is triple vaccinated. So it's like old fashioned COVID that we thought we weren't going to see again. From a ago. So that's that's that was the pattern from mostly overseas not in Queensland. I'm talking about overseas and and Melbourne's New South Wales and I I I was in a Covid unit overseas where we saw this this younger age group being treated for severe covid-19 before the vaccine was here. In this vaccination era, it's a different pattern. Most
mostly it's the the mostly it's the older and people with underlying immune problems. Uh the vulnerable vulnerable people who are more likely to be hospitalised. Not universally. We still see yachts. We do as with everything in health in biology that it's variable. We still do see some young people ending up in hospital. But for the most
part the in the in this vaccination era the vaccinated are mostly the more vulnerable and older population. Ah whereas the unvaccinated we're seeing a younger and just just younger and healthier people. About on average ah the average age of an unvaccinated person in our Queensland hospitals is about 20 years younger than someone who is triple vaccinated.
the international rivals? No, relatively compare. They'll all be double vaccinated and the numbers compared to the size of the population this morning. I'm not concerned at all about it. So, just saying the average
age What is that age? Um I think it's around thirty-nine something. That's on average but there's a there's a there's a standard deviation but it's a I think it's around thirty-9 something like that. Thanks everyone. Thank you. Thank you.
2022-01-26 19:22
