Teenagers nabbed at Noosa shopping centre test negative for virus
Police detained the two teenagers at the Noosa shopping centre on Monday afternoon. Photo: Supplied
Two teenagers arrested after allegedly lying about being in COVID-19 hotspot Sydney have tested negative for the deadly virus.
The girls, aged 15 and 16, arrived on a train from Sydney to Brisbane on Friday before the border closed.
The pair then travelled to the Sunshine Coast. Officers tracked them down at a Noosa shopping centre and took them into custody on Monday so health officials could test them for COVID-19.
The pair were taken into mandatory quarantine until their negative test results came back on Tuesday.
Queensland had no new coronavirus cases to report on Tuesday.
Earlier, Superintendent Craig Hawkins said the pair had not been completely honest with where they had been. But he dismissed social media “hysteria” about fears they could be spreading the virus.
“Certainly there is no need to panic in regards to an outbreak of COVID-19 on the Sunshine Coast,” he said.
A police officer with two teenagers at Noosa Civic Shopping Centre on Monday.
The girls, who are from Queensland and NSW, have yet to be charged.
The breach came after border communities were warned exemptions allowing them to cross into Queensland will end if coronavirus spreads north from NSW.
Despite the potential threat, the state’s aged-care homes have been permitted to reopen to visitors.
It follows two weeks of high alert for an outbreak linked to two teens who dodged quarantine.
Health officials are now confident the women did not spread COVID-19 after returning from Melbourne in July and moving around the community for a week.
“Today was the very important day,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said on Monday, referring to the end of the two-week period since police placed the women in isolation.
Aged-care homes in Queensland were locked down after the breach.
“Aged-care restrictions will be lifted, which I know means a lot to the families, especially over the last week or so when they have not been able to see their loved ones,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
One new case of the virus was diagnosed overnight from Sunday, a man in mandatory hotel quarantine who recently returned from overseas.
-AAP