Queensland School Shut After Student Gets CCP Virus

A view of Indooroopilly State High School in Brisbane, Friday, July 30, 2021. AAP Image/Dan Peled

Queensland (QLD) Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young said she was “struggling to understand” how a 17-year-old Brisbane schoolgirl has contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus.

The Australian student became unwell on Thursday and tested positive overnight.

QLD Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said the girl’s family of five, who live in the Brisbane suburb of Taringa, were also being tested.

Queensland Minister for Health Yvette D'Ath speaks at Parliament House in Brisbane, Australia on March 30, 2021. Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

“We are treating this as if the young lady was infectious from the 27th [of July],” D'Ath told reporters on Friday morning. “So she’s been in the community for three days and at school for two days.”

Indooroopilly State High School has notified families and closed down for a deep clean.

QLD Health authorities have very little information at this stage, and other exposure sites have not yet been identified.

“At this point, we understand the family hasn’t travelled anywhere,” D'Ath said. “We are still to get genomic sequencing to find out what variant it is and also whether it’s linked to any other cases in Queensland or Australia.”

The state health minister urged caution and for residents to wear masks and social distance.

Queensland's Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young takes off her face mask to speak during a press conference in Brisbane, Australia on June 29, 2021. Jono Searle/Getty Images

QLD Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the case was “quite concerning” and that she was “struggling to understand” how the girl acquired the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.

Genome sequencing test results are expected on Friday afternoon.

“We have had 13 incursions of the virus into Queensland over the last six weeks,” Young said. "We know that in any particular outbreak someone can get infected, not have symptoms, and then spread the virus to someone else.

“Which is why it’s critically important that we all remain cautious until the vast majority of people have been able to be vaccinated,” she said.

A boy receives a dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Holon, Israel on June 21, 2021. Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during a press conference at Kirribilli House in Sydney, Australia on July 13, 2021 Jenny Evans/Getty Images

As Queensland aims to achieve high vaccination rates in order to ease caution and response measures, both Israel and Singapore, which have achieved high vaccination rates, have recently reintroduced restrictions, with Singapore also imposing a semi-lockdown in response to fresh outbreaks of the CCP virus Delta variant.

This is something Australia’s national cabinet—which comprises all state and territory leaders, and the prime minister—will consider on Friday when they are briefed on the Doherty Institute’s preliminary findings of the optimal vaccination coverage required for Australia to begin opening up, The Australian reported.

Given the situations in Singapore and Israel, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused to commit to lockdowns ending once a target number of vaccinations are achieved.

“The virus is unpredictable and it would be irresponsible to do so,” he told The Australian.