There were 186 new Covid cases recorded ahead of Wednesday’s emergency meeting of national cabinet – a new daily record for the state Just one person – who has a number of pre-existing conditions – is in hospital requiring significant care for covid. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also announced face masks will be mandatory in cinemas and theatres, and for hospitality staff from 5am on Thursday. Masks are already mandatory in supermarkets, shops, on public transport, and in rideshares.“This is not very onerous,” Ms Palaszczuk said. “We have spoken to the industry and to the unions. They understand why this is necessary. Essentially we don‘t want to have all of our cafes and restaurants going down because of the Omicron variant.”Of the 186 new cases, 177 were under investigation. Wednesday’s case numbers are a marked increase on the 86 infections recorded on Tuesday and a continuation of the expected surge following the reopening of borders last week. There are 447 cases active in the state at the moment, including 79 omicron cases, although chief health officer Dr John Gerrard said the state’s vaccination record meant most people were reporting “trivial” symptoms. Authorities expect case numbers could reach the thousands by January if daily numbers double every 48 hours as expected.Ms Palaszczuk said the state had welcomed 257,000 people across its borders since Monday last week.Wednesday’s update comes a day after Queensland announced a major change to its coronavirus management regime, with fully vaccinated close contacts of Covid-19 patients having their quarantine periods halved from 14 days to seven days.More to come
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