Covid Virus alert level raised from green to amber.
Queenslanders have been advised by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, to wear face masks indoors when people can’t socially distance, in healthcare facilities and around older or vulnerable people.
It is reported that Queensland has entered its fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with hospitalisations having more than doubled in the last week.
The BQ.1 variant, which has been common in Europe and the US, has now reached Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and is expected to spread quickly.
Nov 4 (Reuters) – New offshoots of the dominant BA.5 subvariant of Omicron known as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 are gaining ground in the United States as the SARS-Cov-2 virus that triggered the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve.
BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 are among the more than 300 sublineages of the Omicron variant circulating globally, 95% of which are direct descendants of BA.5, according to the World Health Organisation.
The best way to keep Covid cases numbers down is to:
Wear Face Masks
This was proven during the compulsory face mask wearing periods when even cases of the Flu and the common cold were almost eradicated.
But after relaxing these rules, those case numbers rose almost immediately.