Expert brands Brisbane lockdown excessive after no positive cases found
There is a risk of 'crying wolf' warns Professor Peter Collignon
One of Australia’s top infectious diseases experts says it was an over-reaction to put two million people in Greater Brisbane into a hard lockdown based on a single case of COVID-19.
The lockdown was lifted on Monday, but for the last three days people across the region were ordered to stay home except for essential work, shopping, medical care and exercise. Other states shut their borders.
The response came after a quarantine hotel cleaner tested positive to the B.1.1.7 strain of COVID-19 which scientists believe is 70% more transmissible and is now dominant in the UK.
Public health officials have tested more than 50,000 people and tracked down and isolated 370 of the cleaner’s contacts, but no new cases were found.
