Sarah Courtney,Minister for Health
The health, safety and wellbeing of Tasmanians is the Tasmanian Liberal Government's number one priority and I want to recognise the efforts people have gone to, both here in Tasmania and in Queensland to swiftly isolate following developments in Greater Brisbane last Friday.
Today, Queensland has had no locally acquired positive cases for the third day in a row, with high testing levels sustained and, as a consequence, we have moved to modify our advice for some travellers from Greater Brisbane.
This means that travellers in Tasmania from Greater Brisbane who arrived prior to 9am on Friday 8th of January, and who are currently self-isolating, can now resume normal activities. I thank them for their care, caution and patience during this time and, like all people in Tasmania, ask them to remain vigilant.
Those who arrived in Tasmania after 9am on the 8th of January must continue to quarantine with the arrangements to be reviewed in 48 hours.
This means those people in hotel quarantine or approved suitable premises who have travelled from the Greater Brisbane area and arrived here after 9am on Friday 8th of January, must remain in quarantine until public health advises that they are comfortable to ease the risk level.
The continuation of a high risk designation means that anyone travelling into Tasmania who has spent time in the Greater Brisbane region since the 2nd of January, specifically the areas of Brisbane, Logan, Redlands, Moreton and Ipswich, will be required to quarantine. If it is in a government designated hotel, it will be at your expense.
We do recognise, however, that the decision made last Friday was made swiftly, so for those who came into our state before 9am on 8th January, or during the following 24 hours, will not need to pay government hotel quarantine costs.
While things are looking promising in Queensland at this stage, we will continue to take public health advice to keep Tasmanians safe. Please check the contact tracing alerts at https://www.qld.gov.au/health/conditions/health-alerts/coronavirus-covid-19/current-status/contact-tracing
