Queensland has recorded six new locally-acquired cases linked to an Indooroopilly High School student, prompting a three-day lockdown of a large section of the state.
From 4pm on Saturday, the local government areas of Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan City, Moreton Bay, Redlands, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Noosa, Somerset, Lockyer Valley and Scenic Rim will go into the harshest restrictions the sunshine state has seen.
Residents in the affected lockdown areas can only leave home for essential work, study or child care, to exercise, buy food and supplies, and to receive healthcare, including being tested for COVID-19 or vaccinated against it.
Any non-essential travel must be within 10km from home and everyone must wear a mask when they are outside their home.
People doing exercise can do so with one person who does not live with them.
The six new community cases are made up of four family members of the 17-year-old female Indooroopilly student (her parents and two siblings), a medical student who tutors the teen and a staff member of lronside State School, which the family's youngest child attends.
Funerals and weddings in the lockdown zone will be limited to 10 people and hospitality will be takeaway only. Cinemas, hairdressers, gyms and places of worship have to close.
The lockdown extends to anyone who was in one of the 11 LGAs as of 1am Saturday, so even if they have since travelled to another part of Queensland they must abide by the restrictions.
All schools in the lockdown zone will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, while all staff and students of Indooroopilly High School and Ironside State School are in quarantine for two weeks.
Schools will be open on Monday and Tuesday for the children of essential workers and for children who are vulnerable.
A pop-up testing clinic has been set up at Indooroopilly High School.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles announced the measures on Saturday morning saying: "We must go hard, go early".
"It is our intention that this is a short lockdown and that we can deal with this outbreak within days."
The government would work through the details of a compensation package on Saturday and make announcements on Sunday, he said.
Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young suspects the infected medical student could be the index case of the outbreak, and likely brought the virus into the Indooroopilly High School student's home.
The medical student had been at Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, the University of Queensland and the Translational Research Institute, and has a sibling who works at a hospital, Dr Young said.
"I expect there are going to be an enormous number of exposure sites all through Brisbane and probably as well through the Sunshine Coast and further," Dr Young said.
She urged residents in the southeast region to change their social plans and start abiding by the lockdown immediately rather than waiting until 4pm.
Failure to comply with health directions could incur a $1378 fine, Queensland Police said.
State opposition leader David Crisafulli criticised the state government for not having financial support ready on Saturday.
"That work needed to be done. It needed to be in place," he told reporters.
"There will be businesses that don't open their doors again following this lockdown and that is heartbreaking."
He suggested support should include immediate payments for businesses who have to dispose of food, funding to underwrite cancelled events and cash for deep cleaning of venues that become exposure sites.
Meanwhile, the AFL, NRL and Super Netball competitions have been thrown into chaos because of the snap lockdown.
Matches have been postponed and the NRL has placed all 16 clubs on level-four biosecurity protocols with players to return to team hotels and stay there until further notice.
Exposure sites can be viewed at qld.gov.au/health/conditions/health-alerts/coronavirus-covid-19/current-status/contact-tracing
Australian Associated Press
