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Queensland could soon become one of the few jurisdictions in the world to ask children under the age of 12 to wear masks as the state grapples with a schools-based outbreak of COVID-19.

The state today recorded another 10 local cases of coronavirus, all linked to cases in Brisbane schools, swelling the cluster total to 89 cases.

About a dozen schools in total have been considered hotspots at some point in the outbreak.

READ MORE: Queensland records 10 new local coronavirus cases

Yesterday, Queensland Health confirmed two-thirds of the cases in the current outbreak were in children or teenagers.

Currently, only children over the age of 12 and adults are included in the state's mask mandate but that could soon change.

The state government says it is trying to source smaller masks that will properly fit younger children.

"There's very few places in the world that get children under 12 to wear masks so we will just work it through and see if it is beneficial and if we can do it," Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said.

"I have had young children, and trying to get them to keep hats on and all sorts of things… but it might end up being those young children in primary school."

READ MORE: HSC Students in Sydney hot spot suburbs may not return to school

Authorities have praised masks as being a key factor in preventing the current outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant from escalating faster and further.

"If you think about where this outbreak spread, it spread in places that didn't have masks," Deputy Premier Steven Miles said.

"That just underlines how valuable masks have been in controlling spread in other places."

READ MORE: Woman who escaped Gold Coast quarantine still on the run

Queensland AMA president Dr Chris Perry told Today yesterday the outbreak was a "scary situation" particularly for parents.

"We don't know what it's going to do to the kids," Dr Perry said.

"Generally, you think it will be a mild illness but they could shed more virus than older people, therefore their parents are in the firing line, they want to be there with their kids.

"We're in a slightly scary situation."

The World Health Organisation and UNICEF advises that the decision to use masks for children aged between six and 11 be based on whether there is widespread transmission where they live, whether they pose a risk to elderly or vulnerable people, whether they can safely and appropriately wear the mask and any potential impact of wearing a mask on their learning and psychosocial development.

Use of masks is not recommended for children aged five and under, based on their limited capacity to use one safely and effectively, unless they are in contact with someone who is ill, in which case they should be supervised.

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Australia will avoid another recession, despite the recent economic comeback being interrupted by the Delta variant, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia's Governor Philip Lowe.

The nation's economy will "bounce back quickly once restrictions ease", according to Governor Lowe.

"Increase in unemployment is expected over the months ahead, although mostly through decline in hours worked rather than job losses," Mr Lowe said.

LIVE UPDATES: NSW infections spiral with 291 new COVID-19 cases

Current lockdowns mean GDP is likely to decline in the September quarter.

"How large depends on duration of the lockdowns," he said.

"An increase in unemployment is expected over the months ahead.

"Once restrictions are lifted, spending will bounce back strongly. 

"Timing is difficult to predict, but it's likely to happen well before the end of the year.

"By the end of the year, many of us will be vaccinated and hopes restrictions will be eased into next quarter and as that happens, the economy should begin its recovery."

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham wouldn't rule out a recession when questioned by media on Friday morning.

READ MORE: 'A dog act': Police officer injured at Melbourne anti-lockdown protest

"We can't foresee exactly what's going to happen with COVID-19 and the Delta variant," he said.

"Our economic assistance has shown its ability before to carry Australians through these tough times and to help our economy recover quickly and strongly afterwards."

A report released by the Treasury earlier this week found the economic cost behind the nation's pathway out of the pandemic.

And as vaccination rates rise, less restrictions will be required to manage outbreaks which would reduce the economic cost.

The report found at 50 per cent vaccination rates, the economic cost of minimising cases is estimated to be about $570 million a week.

That cost drops to $200 million a week at 70 per cent and $140 million per week at 80 per cent.

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Victoria "remains in a precarious position" on its first day of a snap lockdown as six new coronavirus cases are recorded, including a student at specialist school with vulnerable children.

Health Minister Martin Foley warned the Victoria's coronavirus situation was still unstable as he confirmed the new local COVID-19 cases today.

A student at Warringa Park School and a household contact has been diagnosed with the virus and is among three cases linked to the City of Maribyrnong.

LIVE UPDATES: Queensland border tightens with Victoria

The third is a cleaner at Epworth Hospital who worked in an administration area after hours but was not in contact with patients.

Three are linked to Hobsons Bay community outbreak – two of whom were reported yesterday.

Mr Foley said Victorians should not to be complacent as its sixth COVID-19 lockdown gets underway.

"Victoria remains in a precarious situation," he said.

READ MORE: Officer injured in Melbourne anti-lockdown protests as 15 arrested

https://twitter.com/DougalBeatty/status/1423458080575029248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The Delta variant was presenting a fresh challenge to health authorities due to the speed of spread and its highly infectious nature.

There are now 72 active cases of COVID-19 in Victoria, the "majority" of which are from the previous community outbreak, Victoria's COVID Response Commander Jeroen Weimar said.

He warned that health authorities expect exposure sites start to spread across wider Melbourne and potentially regional Victoria, given the latest positive cases.

Mr Weimar said contact tracers are no closer to determining how the first Maribyrnong case contracted COVID-19.

He noted that authorities were looking into the direction of transmission between that case and their positive close contacts.

Both of Victoria's current clusters have been confirmed as the Delta variant, but the exact strains have not yet been determined.

Mr Weimar said there was "no obvious link" between the latest clusters and the traffic controller who earlier caught the virus.

Mr Weimar urged more people to come out and get tested.

"We've expanded operating hours at 13 of our testing sites," he said.

He urged people not to be deterred by long queues in the morning to try returning in the afternoon, when queues were generally shorter.

There have now been 1.78 million people vaccinated through Victoria's state-run clinics.

https://twitter.com/VicGovDH/status/1423409648732827654?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Victoria requests 'very forcefully' to bring forward Pfizer doses

Victorian authorities have "made their case very forcefully" to the Commonwealth Government to have its Pfizer dose allocations brought forward, Mr Foley said.

He said the request had been made due to the latest outbreak and to service "huge unmet demand".

The health minister said he expects that allocation would comprise around 150,000 doses.

He noted the Commonwealth had made it clear each state had a set allocation that would not be increased, but he hoped to receive the doses ahead of the original schedule.

A pop-up testing clinic is now offering Pfizer vaccines in what's believed to be a first for Victoria. That will be located at the Al-Taqwa College in Truganina, where a teacher worked while infectious with the virus.

Protests 'will lengthen the lockdown'

 Martin Foley has warned protesters and those breaching Victoria's public health orders are only increasing the chance of a lockdown extension.

"It's not in your interests and it's not in the public health interest," Mr Foley said.

"All it will do is lengthen the lockdown."

Earlier today, police condemned the alleged "dog act" of kicking an officer on the ground at a violent anti-lockdown protest in Melbourne after 15 people were arrested overnight.

Victoria Police said action has been taken against 31 people in total who protested against Victoria's sixth lockdown, with charges expected to be laid later today.

North West Metro Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius alleged a police officer was pushed over by protesters" and booted while he was on the ground outside Melbourne East Police Station.

"Kicking a police officer while he's down is a dog act," Mr Cornelius said today.

Video of the rally showed hundreds of people, many of them maskless, walking through the city on Thursday night and chanting "Free Victoria", "sack Dan Andrews" and "no more lockdown".

Contact tracing is currently underway across the state, with Mr Foley defending the decision not to fine rule-breakers who are upfront about their movements.

He said authorities did not believe not fining rule breakers was sending mixed messaging about the need to follow restrictions and that the real punishment was one endured by all Victorians.

"The punishment is extended lockdown – it is a collective punishment," he said.

"What we need is if you are facing those issues for you to come forward freely and share that information," Mr Foley said.

Authorised officers conducted 342 checks on households across Melbourne to ensure they were adhering to their mandatory isolation orders, Mr Foley said.

He thanked everyone who was adhering to the isolation orders for their cooperation.

He noted that a number of households were still in isolation following the Delta outbreak last month in Millner.

Infectious Sydney man flew to Melbourne, then Tasmania

Passengers across two Virgin flights are being sent into isolation after a positive COVID-19 case flew from Sydney to Melbourne and then on to Tasmania.

The positive case entered Melbourne on a valid transit permit, Mr Foley said.

He was escorted by airport staff in PPE to his connecting flight to Launceston.

However, on his arrival in Launceston he was detained by authorities there and sent back to Sydney.

Everyone on the Sydney-Melbourne flight VA808 from Sydney to Melbourne on August 2 and Melbourne-Launceston flight VA1364 also on August 2 are now being considered close contacts and must undertake 14 days of isolation.

READ MORE: NSW records 291 COVID-19 cases as premier warns worst is coming

More lockdowns before Christmas likely

There are now more than 16 million Australians across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland under stay-at-home orders as the highly contagious Delta variants shows no signs of being contained.

The snap lockdown in Victoria will be in place for at least seven days.

Epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely predicts Victoria is in for a "big fight" even though a lockdown is in place.

"The conditions have changed," Professor Blakely told Today.

"It's going to be a rough couple of months unfortunately.

"What's going to happen is places like Melbourne where it pops up, we are just going to have to slam into these rapid lockdowns.

"It's probably going to happen maybe a couple more times until we get to October and November when we get safety."

But in a bit of good news, he expects Christmas and New Year to bring happier times nation-wide.

"As long as we get the vaccination coverage right up it might be a nice time in Australia, to open the borders to other countries.

"Christmas and New Year could be quite good, hoping we don't get a new variant thrown at us.

"I'm keeping my eye on that Christmas, New Year period as being, hopefully, a much better time, but it's going to be rough before we get there unfortunately."