Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has urged Queenslanders to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible, after confirming that fully-vaccinated people arriving from interstate hotspots will no longer have to quarantine from 17 December.
Modelling undertaken by the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute highlights the potential risks associated with this policy. In a worst-case scenario, the institute has warned that Queensland could potentially incur 100 deaths from COVID-19 in the first 90 days after the state’s borders are re-opened to people from designated hotspots, with deaths mostly in the over-65s age group:
The Queensland government on Monday released its roadmap to reopening, including lifting domestic travel restrictions when 70 and 80 per cent of eligible Queenslanders had been vaccinated.
