Queensland pauses interstate hotspot arrivals as hotels overflow

Queensland has suspended hotel quarantine for anyone arriving from an interstate hotspot as accommodation overflows.

For the next fortnight, only people with special exemptions will be allowed to enter Queensland from a hotspot, commencing 12pm today.

It means no Victorians without a special exemption cannot quarantine in Queensland.

“We simply just do not have any room at the moment,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.

The Queensland government says quarantine has been overwhelmed by people relocating to the state to escape lockdowns in New South Wales and Victoria.

As of yesterday, 5,114 people were in 22 quarantine hotels – 3,257 from interstate and 1,857 from overseas. Between 9 and 20 August, 2,750 were granted border passes to relocate to Queensland – that includes 1,993 in a single week.

— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) August 25, 2021

“While we have allowed genuine relocations for work and other purposes, it has overwhelmed our hotels and it has to be stopped at least for the next fortnight.

“We are reassessing, we are looking at other options.”

Queensland recorded no new cases of coronavirus today, either locally or overseas-acquired.

Two cases recorded yesterday have since been established as false-positives and have been removed from the state’s numbers.

Image: Annastacia Palaszczuk / Twitter