Duran Raman, aged in his 30s, has been named as the unvaccinated man from Broadbeach who on Thursday broke Queensland’s 15-day streak without a locally acquired case.Authorities are desperately trying to track the man’s movements after he spent 10 days infectious in the community before testing positive to the virus. However, inquiries have been hampered by the fact he is too sick to speak, with Mr Raman receiving oxygen at Gold Coast University Hospital. The Queensland government said he also had not used the Covid-19 check-in app since early September. “He’s so sick that he’s having difficulty communicating with us, and difficulty remembering,” Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young said.The state government said Mr Raman is believed to have left Queensland in September, with Dr Young saying the man spent some time in Melbourne.The government on Thursday said he arrived back on the Gold Coast – where he lives alone in an apartment at the Island Beach Resort – around October 10, and may have even been infectious for a couple of days before then.Mr Raman was an Uber driver but the company confirmed he had not driven with them since September 19. He has been living at Broadbeach for about a year and played Aussie rules football on the Gold Coast earlier in 2021.Authorities are now trying to figure out how he re-entered the state. Mr Raman was taken to hospital by ambulance on Wednesday after becoming increasingly sicker over a number of days and on Thursday was requiring oxygen. The Island Beach resort is one of several new exposure sites related to the case, with anyone there from October 16 to 19 listed as casual contacts. Other new exposure sites include Gilly Barber and Hoyts Cinema Stafford on Monday October 18, and Freedom Fuels at Acacia Ridge on Tuesday October 19.Capalaba Labor MP Don Brown shared the story of Mr Raman on Facebook as an example of why people should get the jab.“Just because you‘re 30, lift some weights and eat a lot of protein, doesn’t mean you won’t end up in ICU from covid, Mr Brown wrote.“Get vaccinated!”Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk noted on Thursday that there were still 156,000 unvaccinated residents on the Gold Coast who were particularly vulnerable to the disease. She urged residents of the region to get the jab and boost Queensland’s flagging vaccination numbers before the state opens its borders on December 17.
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