Greater Brisbane restrictions to ease after no community cases of COVID-19

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk congratulated Queenslanders for their hard work, while announcing the mandatory mask mandate had ended.

“Of course, if you are going into a crowded area on public transport or in a shopping centre, where you can’t socially distance and you feel uncomfortable, just put a mask on – that’s up to you,” she said.

The clamp-down came after a COVID-19 cluster at Brisbane’s Hotel Chancellor that began when a cleaner caught the highly contagious mutant UK strain, most likely from a traveller in hotel quarantine.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said it had been 14 days since the first case from the cluster went into quarantine.

The lifting of restrictions will take effect from 1am AEST on Friday.