Premier calls for national cabinet to meet as Covid cases soar
The Palaszczuk Government is continuing to urge Queenslanders to take responsibility for their own health in the face of exploding Covid-19 cases around the state.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the key to battling the current Covid was personal responsibility, adding that people should get their booster shot as soon as possible.
However, in a signal of growing worry about the implications of the current wave, she said she would ask Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to convene a national cabinet meeting in coming weeks to discuss the crisis.
The premier stopped short of endorsing federal Health Minister Mark Butler’s recommendation that people work from home, but urged Queenslanders to stay away from work if they were sick.
“If you are sick, stay at home,” she said, revealing that there were 7517 new cases of Covid-19 in the state and 859 people with the virus in hospital. Twelve people died from the virus yesterday.
“I know there is a bit of community concern out there at the moment,” she said.
“I went and got my booster last night and I encourage everyone else to take this very seriously.”
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Meanwhile federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has defended a decision to scrap pandemic leave payments and free rapid antigen tests for concession card holders despite the rising Covid-19 case numbers.
Chalmers said both support mechanisms were designed to end at some point.
“To restart them would cost a considerable amount of money,” he told reporters in Brisbane on Wednesday.
“We have tried to be upfront with people and say that some of these important programs that have existed in the recent past, which are designed to end in the near future, we can’t afford to extend all of them.”
Pandemic leave payments for infected workers who have to isolate ended on June 30 and the free tests for concession holders will finish at the end of July.
The program, which provided 10 free rapid tests to concession card holders every three months, was introduced in January at the height of the first Omicron wave when the tests were in short supply.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged those eligible for the free tests to get them while the scheme was still in place.
“I’d encourage concession card holders to go and get the 10 free rapid antigen tests that they’re eligible for by the end of this month,” he told ABC radio.
“On top of that, there are free rapid antigen tests available in aged care facilities across a range of areas.”
He was speaking after the Coral Princess cruise ship carrying more than 100 crew and passengers who have tested positive for Covid-19 has docked in Sydney.
The ship, with more than 2300 people on board, will remain there for a day before returning to its home port of Brisbane.
The outbreak on the ship mostly involves infected crew members, with 114 in isolation on Tuesday.
At the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, another Princess cruise liner – the Ruby Princess – had a major outbreak of the virus that led to 28 deaths.
