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No new COVID-19 cases in Queensland

There have been no new cases of COVID-19 recorded in Queensland after a hotel quarantine worker tested positive to the highly infectious UK strain last week, sending all of Greater Brisbane into lockdown.

It comes as 15 people have so far been fined for breaching the three-day coronavirus lockdown order in place across the city. Five of the 15 fines were issued at one party held in a Brisbane suburb.

READ MORE: Nationwide hotel quarantine overhaul begins to contain highly infectious new COVID-19 strains

The streets across Brisbane remain deserted this morning as the city enters its second full day of restrictions, with residents only allowed to leave home for four essential reasons.

Today's results come from over 19,000 tests conducted in the past 24 hours.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk praised the conduct of resident in adhering to the lockdown.

"What we're seeing in the greater Brisbane area is large amounts of compliance and people are doing the right thing," Ms Palaszczuk said.

She also reminded those who were heading out for a permitted walk or trip to the shops to wear their masks.

https://twitter.com/AnnastaciaMP/status/1348043434938929152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Queensland's contact tracers have identified 147 close contacts of the hotel quarantine worker who travelled around Brisbane while infectious with the UK strain.

Of these, 112 have so far tested negative.

"So far, so good," Ms Palaszczuk said.

The premier said she would provide an update tomorrow morning as to whether Brisbane would be allowed to exit its snap lockdown as planned at 6pm.

However, Western Australia at least has indicated it will keep its border closed to Queensland for some time.

New possible infection sites identified

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young is urging anyone who visited a number of locations across Brisbane to come forward for testing, whether or not they have symptoms.

This includes anyone who caught the train from Altandi Station to Roma Street at 7am on Saturday January 2 or the train from Central Station to Altandi Station at 4pm the same day.

Other locations are: Woolworths at Calamvale North between 11am and 12pm on January 3; Coles Sunnybank Hills, between 7.30 and 8am on Tuesday January 5; and the Nextra Sunnybank Hills newsagency between 8am and 8.15am on January 5.

"If you have been to any of those places, it is absolutely critical, please immediately come forward," Dr Young said.

She said that so far, 187 people connected to the infectious cleaner at the Grand Chancellor Hotel had come forward and of those, 147 had been deemed close contacts.

Despite most having already tested negative, Dr Young cautioned that health authorities still had to work through 14 days of quarantine for all of those people.

Dr Young also announced health alerts for the Sunshine Coast town of Maleny, where a returned traveller from Victoria visited her parents after flying into Queensland.

WA Premier to keep border closed to Queensland

The woman had flown into Victoria from overseas on December 26 and was tested in hotel quarantine, where she was found to be positive for the highly contagious UK strain of COVID-19.

She was isolated and did 10 days of quarantine before she was cleared of her symptoms and released to fly to Queensland, where she since tested positive again.

Anyone who visited the Cappriccios Italian Pizza Restaurant in the Riverside Centre in the town between 6.30pm and 7pm on January 6 is being urged to isolate and get tested immediately.

The same advice is being given for those who went to the town's Woolworths between 4.30 and 4.50pm on Thursday, January 7 and the Purple Palate Cellars between 4.15 and 4.25 the same day.

A health alert has also been issued to anyone on that woman's Jetstar flight JQ 570 which arrived in Brisbane at 11pm on January 5.

Contact tracers using CCTV, GoCard to track contacts

Dr Young has defended Queensland Health's approach to deeming who is a "close contact" of the hotel quarantine worker after revealing 187 had been identified.

She said not everyone who caught the same two trains as the infected woman would be deemed a close contact.

"The public health people are assessing each individual case," Dr Young said.

In the case of the two trains the woman caught while infectious, she noted that not everyone would have shared the train platform or a carriage with the woman.

"We've also been working with transport using Go Card information and any CCTV footage that is available," she said.

"The most important thing is individuals shouldn't be making the decision whether or not they're a close contact – they should come forward and then the public health people will make that decision."

Police praise Brisbane community

Fifteen fined for breaching Brisbane lockdown

Speaking to Weekend Today this morning, Queensland's Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said she was pleased with how Brisbane residents were handling lockdown.

"The public and the community have been pretty amazing in terms of compliance, so we're incredibly pleased that there haven't been too many breaches at all," Ms Carroll said.

Despite this, she said police would be continuing to closely monitor the city's roads, retail areas, parks and entertainment precincts until the lockdown order lifts at 6pm tomorrow.

READ MORE: Brisbane lockdown rules explained

There are also compliance checks being conducted on those who travelled from Brisbane into other areas of Queensland before the lockdown came into effect.

Police have handed out more than 700 masks to Brisbane residents, Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski, said.

He praised the conducted of the vast majority of residents in adhering to lockdown restrictions.

Masks became compulsory across Greater Brisbane on Friday for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

The deputy commissioner said police were taking the approach of handing out masks, not fines, to those willing to comply with police directions.

Why Brisbane is in lockdown

The three-day lockdown was put in place after it was revealed on Thursday a hotel quarantine worker had travelled around Brisbane while infectious with the virulent new UK strain of COVID-19.

The woman caught public transport and went shopping before she developed symptoms and got tested.

No subsequent cases have yet been connected to the woman but anyone in Brisbane with even the mildest of symptoms is being urged to get tested and isolate immediately.

The highly infectious UK strain has also prompted a national overhaul of the hotel quarantine system, with daily testing of quarantine staff and fewer international flights being allowed in.