Brisbane and Moreton Bay's Lockdown Is Ending But New Restrictions Will Be in Place Until July 16
The four-day stay-at-home period is coming to an end, but life isn't returning to normal just yet.
After an extra day under stay-at-home conditions due to Queensland's latest COVID-19 cases, the Brisbane and Moreton Bay Local Government Areas will emerge from lockdown at 6pm today, Saturday, July 3.
Since the same time on Tuesday, June 29, residents in the two LGAs have only been permitted to their homes for the four reasons that were identified at the beginning of the pandemic — a lockdown that also covered the Logan, Redlands, Ipswich, Noosa, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, the Scenic Rim, the Lockyer Valley and Somerset LGAs in southeast Queensland, plus Townsville, Palm Island and Magnetic Island. Yesterday, Friday, July 2, the stay-at-home period was extended for an additional 24 hours for Brisbane and Moreton Bay only.
"For our Brisbane and Moreton Bay regions, can I thank everyone for doing that extra day that we asked people to do," said Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at her daily press conference today. "That gave our contact tracers that extra time that was desperately needed," she advised.
While ending the lockdown for these two LGAs is obviously welcome news, restrictions will obviously still apply — as also happened after Brisbane's January and March lockdowns — until Friday, July 16.
So, Brisbanites will be able to leave their homes again once 6pm hits today — and for any reason. That said, new rules will limit what you can do, where and with how many people, as we've all become used to during the pandemic. And yes, dancing is still banned, so Footloose might make for good weekend viewing.
Before lockdown started on Tuesday, a number of rules were actually put in place across Queensland — and they're all back on the cards, after coming back into effect everywhere other than Brisbane and Moreton Bay at 6pm on Friday, July 2. These restrictions will now apply across the entire state for the next fortnight, finishing at 6pm on Friday, July 16.
The 30-person limit on at-home gatherings is back, and that cap includes folks who live with you. And, as well as banning dancing, standing up at cafes, restaurants, bars and nightclubs has been scrapped again. So, to eat, drink and hang out, you'll need to be seated. Hospitality businesses will also have to operate under the one person per four-square-metres indoors and one person per two-square-metres outdoors rules — although venues smaller than 200 square metres will be permitted to welcome in one person per two-square-metres with a cap of 50 people.
Outdoor events can go ahead, but only if they have a COVID-19-safe plan in place. Indoor events can too — and both can have 100-percent capacity if they're seated, or one person per four-square-metres indoors and one person per two-square-metres outdoors rules otherwise.
Wearing masks is still required whenever you're not at home — and you'll always have to have one with you as a result. So, they must be worn in all indoor spaces other than your own house, all indoor workplaces unless it is unsafe to do so, on public transport, in taxis and ride share vehicles, and outdoors, unless you're doing vigorous exercise.
The usual requests regarding social distancing, hygiene and getting tested if you're feeling even the slightest possible COVID-19 symptoms all apply, too, as they have since March last year.
In the past 24 hours, Queensland reported five new locally acquired cases, with 47 cases currently active in the Sunshine State at the time of writing.
Queensland Health is maintaining an active register of locations that have been visited by positive COVID-19 cases, which you can check out on its website. You can also check out this nifty map that uses Queensland Health's data.
The Brisbane and Moreton Bay Local Government Areas will come out of lockdown from 6pm on Saturday, July 3. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in Queensland, head to the QLD COVID-19 hub and the Queensland Health website. More details about the lockdown and associated restrictions can also be found on the Queensland Health website.
Top image: Kgbo via Wikimedia Commons.
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