A man who tested positive to COVID-19 after unwittingly entering the green zone at Brisbane International Airport is posing "less and less of a risk" to the community, authorities say.

Two passengers from Papua New Guinea (PNG) travelling on a red flight, who had initially both tested negative, were accidentally allowed to wander into the green zone at the airport for around two hours from 9.30am on Thursday.

One man was later revealed to be positive to COVID-19, sparking fears he could have exposed hundreds of passengers to the virus, however Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young today said authorities the risk of an outbreak was "very low".

Risk of transmission is highest in the 48 hours before someone develops symptoms, she said, and serology results indicated the man was at the end of his illness.

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CCTV has revealed other people in the airport at the time were all wearing masks and social distancing.

Authorities do not have genome sequencing for the positive case yet, but the amount of virus was "so low", she said, that they may not get it.

She said there were no COVID-19 "variants of concern" in PNG at the time.

"I can never, ever be 100 per cent confident that even when people have followed all processes that there isn't some remaining risk. But the remaining risk is very low."

Breach sparks trans-Tasman alert

Health authorities issued an alert this morning because three flights departed for New Zealand during the two-hour period that the men were in the green zone.

The pair were effectively allowed to mingle with the almost 400 passengers who were departing across the three flights. 

It is understood they dined at Hudson's Cafe at the international terminal for 90 minutes before visiting the bathrooms and a retail outlet. 

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The pair had initially returned a negative result in PNG before returning to Australia.

They were tested again in Brisbane and one of the passengers returned a negative result, but the other test was equivocal, meaning it did not indicate either a positive or negative test.

More samples sent to Queensland Health's Forensic and Scientific Services laboratory have since confirmed that one of the two men is COVID-positive.

Serology testing has revealed the man is likely at the end of his illness.

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Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young earlier declared the international terminal a venue of concern and staff who came into contact with the pair have been placed into quarantine.

"Anyone who was in the terminal between 9.45am and midday on Thursday, 29 April 2021, should monitor their symptoms and get tested immediately if they feel unwell," she said.

"They were in the wrong zone through no fault of their own and we appreciate their patience and cooperation while we rule them out as cases.

"We're also grateful for the prompt action by Brisbane airport staff once the mistake was identified."

She said she believed the risk to Queenslanders was low but the incident highlighted the importance of masks and social distancing at airports.

CCTV shows the pair had minimal interaction with other people and wore masks. The table was cleaned once they left the cafe.

The three flights affected are Air New Zealand NZ202 from Brisbane to Christchurch, Air New Zealand NZ146 from Brisbane to Auckland, and Qantas QF135 from Brisbane to Christchurch.

Queensland Health advised the NZ Ministry of Health, which is taking its own protection measures.

Breach due to 'human error'

Brisbane Airport Corporation confirmed there was a breach of the green zone of the airport yesterday.

"The breach is due to human error, and BAC is currently working with all relevant authorities including Queensland Health to investigate the circumstances of the breach," a spokesperson said.

"At approximately 9:30am, two transit passengers arrived on a 'red' flight from Port Moresby and proceeded through screening to transit as per normal process".

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BAC said an initial review of CCTV indicates that at approximately 9.55am, these passengers were incorrectly allowed into the 'green zone'.

BAC said the passengers were seated at a retail outlet within the green zone until approximately 11.20am.

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The passengers then used the bathroom and attended another retailer before they were located by BAC staff and returned to the 'red zone'.

The corporation confirmed the passengers were in the green zone for just under two hours.

"Thorough cleaning of all areas mentioned above has since been conducted, and we can confirm all workers and passengers within the green area were wearing PPE," BAC said.

"Three 'green' flights departed within this two-hour period to New Zealand, with approximately 390 passengers on these services.

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"At this stage, it is believed only a handful of passengers were in the vicinity of the two 'red' passengers at any time.

"BAC is conducting a thorough investigation and unreservedly apologises for this human error.

"Queensland Health is leading the health response to this incident and working with the New Zealand Ministry of Health".

For the first time in history, the Australian government could make it illegal for Australian citizens in other countries to return home.

Nine News understands the Federal Government is considering invoking sweeping powers under the Biosecurity Act, which would mean from as early as midnight tomorrow, it would be a crime for anyone to return to Australia if they have been in a high-risk country 14 days prior to arriving.

The act empowers Health Minister Greg Hunt to do whatever is necessary to stop the spread of a listed disease.

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Penalties include five years jail or a $66,000 fine.

The move would come into effect days after two people circumvented travel bans from India, returning to Australia via Doha in a loophole that has since been closed.

With over 9000 Australians in India, the Federal Government has indicated they will restart repatriation flights as soon as they can, but with coronavirus rampant in India, that could be months away.

"We have to be able to continue to do two things – protect Australia and bring Australians home," Health minister Greg Hunt said.

Mr Hunt has said Australians left stranded in India by the federal government's flight ban are a "top priority".

Australia's travel suspension with India, announced earlier this week, had temporarily ended all direct flights from the coronavirus-ravaged nation.

The ban will remain in place until at least May 15 – after which, Mr Hunt said, the aim was to resume repatriation and commercial flights as soon as possible.

The pause on flights had "lifted pressure" on the quarantine system, Mr Hunt said.

"And that is opening up the possibility for the resumption exactly as discussed, as early as possible, subject to the National Cabinet decision," he said.

Vulnerable Australians would be at the top of the list.

Asked whether the government was planning on providing financial or vaccine support for stranded Australians, Mr Hunt was non-committal.

READ MORE: COVID-19 positive passenger at Brisbane airport poses 'low risk'

"I will not pre-empt anything on financial support," he said.

"The question on vaccinations is a challenging one for Australians overseas."

He said the government would need to ensure the integrity of the delivery, and have the support of health authorities in the overseas country.

"That is something we're always taking advice on and it is advice that we have to take in terms of what is achievable and what is not," he said.

Earlier today, a travel loophole being used to circumvent the flight ban was shut down by the federal government.

Two Australian cricketers, previously stranded in India, arrived home yesterday after travelling through the Qatar capital of Doha.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison addressed the issue while speaking with Ben Fordham on 2GB this morning.

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"We will be taking more action about that loophole," Mr Morrison said.

He said the Federal Government was told earlier this week by Qatar authorities that connecting flights from India would be closed by Wednesday, but that the flight the cricketers were on had taken off before the shutdown.

"We had information on Monday that that wasn't possible," he said.

Mr Morrison said the government had spoken with airlines about the Doha connection and passengers were no longer flying to Australia.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton echoed the Prime Minister's comments on Today, saying the Australian Border Force was "dealing with" the flights and airlines in question.

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Labor Party National President Wayne Swan criticised the government for not identifying the loophole sooner.

"The ramifications of this are incredibly serious for the country," he told Today.

India has been struggling to manage record numbers of COVID-19 cases in the country, with more than one million new cases reported in the past three days.

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Fiji has announced a 56-hour curfew as it rushes to trace contacts of a garment factory worker diagnosed with coronavirus amid the nation's first cases for a year.

While the capital, Suva was put into lockdown last week for 14 days after a handful of cases spread in the community after emerging from a quarantine hotel, officials have announced a curfew over the weekend, with none of the 100,000 residents allowed to leave their homes.

The are currently 49 people in the nation with the virus, 28 of those locally transmitted, according to the Fiji Times.

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One of the new cases is a woman who worked in a garment factory, with her diagnosis sparking the crack-down.

She worked with almost 900 people and officials said in a statement they have only managed to test 300, and need to find hundreds more.

"We cannot waste another minute locating the rest of them," Permanent Secretary for Health and Medical Services, Dr James Fong said.

"To allow my teams to find these Fijians quickly, we will be locking down the Suva and Nausori Containment zones from 2000 hours tonight until 0400 hours Monday morning.

"No one should leave their homes… I say it again, within the lockdown zone, no one, not parents, not breadwinners, not children, no one should leave their homes.

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"The capital and the Nausori corridor will be on war-footing.

"We have 56 hours to break as many chains of COVID transmission as possible.

"My teams — alongside the members of our disciplined forces — will be taking full advantage of this opportunity to get ahead of the spread of this virus.

"Unless you are travelling for a medical emergency or the Ministry has issued you a special clearance, it will be considered an offence and the police will arrest you."

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Most businesses, including supermarkets, will close in the island nation which pre-pandemic, was a popular spot for Australians to holiday.

The government said it will arrange food packages for people who need them.

Fiji reported one new case today, in the wife of another patient, out of more than 1000 tests. Yesterday there were five new cases.

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Last week, the nation closed schools and cancelled sporting events as it announced its first coronavirus cases outside of quarantine in more than a year.

Fiji Air also cancelled all flights until May 8.

A soldier and a room cleaner at a quarantine hotel tested positive.

But at that stage, there wasn't any indication so far that the virus was spreading more widely in the community.

However, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said the nation was again facing a "grave and present danger."

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The government ordered all gyms, bars and theatres within two containment zones closed and large gatherings were cancelled for at least two weeks.

Home to a little under a million people, Fiji has recorded just two virus deaths and 166 cases since the pandemic began, but experts fear its health system would be ill-equipped to deal with a major outbreak.

The nation has its own contact tracing app for mobile phones, CareFiji.

This week New Zealand announced it would give the nation 250,000 vaccines. Australia has also pledged to help. So far the nation has given almost 60,000 jabs.

-Reported with AP

India has reported 386,452 new infections in the past 24 hours, marking yet another global record for the highest single-day case count. More than 3,600 people died.

The country recorded one million COVID-19 cases over the last three days, pushing the total number of cases in the country to more than 18 million since the pandemic began, according to figures released today by the country's Health Ministry.

Delhi's facilities have been cremating more than 600 bodies daily for the past week, according to the mayor of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation.

This is double the official daily death toll for the city, and an indicator there may be a major underreporting problem.

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"We start getting bodies in the morning and they keep coming in one after the other," said Suman Kumar Gupta, an official at Delhi's Nigambodh Ghat cremation site, on Wednesday.

For workers and volunteers at the crematorium, handling hundreds of bodies daily and witnessing a constant outpouring of anguish takes a heavy toll.

At the Seemapuri crematorium, a number of exhausted volunteers slumped against a wall, getting a little precious sleep before continuing with their work.

In between building the additional pyres and bringing out bodies, Jitender Singh Shunty, head of the Seemapuri crematorium in eastern New Delhi, sits with grieving families to offer comfort and support.

"We have cremated 55 bodies in the last five hours … (It) will be 100 by the end of the day," he said on Wednesday morning.

"I am tired — but this is not the time to get tired. This is the time to work for the nation, for humanity, and save lives."

The most harrowing part of his job, however, was seeing "young people die of COVID," Mr Shunty said.

"We have seen families who lost two to three young family members. I don't know what has happened to Delhi — it's really disheartening."

Data from the government's COVID-19 task force suggests young people are being infected at similar rates as the first wave. But experts, medical workers, crematorium staff and politicians warn that the sheer number of new cases and deaths suggest young people are being seriously impacted.

"In this wave of coronavirus, the young people are getting infected," said Chief Minister Kejriwal in a video tweeted on April 15. "I appeal to all the young people to take care of themselves."

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'We have been failed'

India's government is scrambling to take action as the virus spreads. Numerous states and cities have implemented new restrictions and shut down businesses in an attempt to contain the outbreak.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the procurement of 100,000 portable oxygen concentrators, in addition to hundreds of new oxygen generation plants.

International aid began arriving on Tuesday, with countries around the world sending oxygen cylinders, ventilators, medication and other essential supplies.

But these supplies need time to be distributed and oxygen plants need to be built. For some of the hardest-hit cities, such as New Delhi, the lack of immediate help and accessible resources means the bodies will keep piling up until assistance arrives.

Helplessness, frustration and anger toward the government's slow response is spreading among people on the ground — especially those facing the deluge of death every day.

"The situation will worsen because Delhi doesn't have oxygen, beds, ventilators, plasma injections," Mr Shunty said.

"I am very angry, and at the same time guilty because we cannot do more. The people who should be dealing with this are missing in action. They made promises and vanished."

"We have limited resources with a fleet of 18 ambulances. We are picking up 50 to 55 dead bodies every day," he added.

"So I am very angry because people who should be doing this are not doing it, and so volunteers are having to do it."

Families who have lost their loved ones, too, have been left with no closure or relief.

Barkha Dutt, a columnist at the Washington Post, lost her father to COVID-19 this week after he was ferried to the hospital on a faulty oxygen cylinder.

READ MORE: Concerns India infections are going unreported

"When we went to cremate him, there was no space at the cremation ground — there was a physical fight that erupted between multiple families," she said Wednesday. "We had to call the police to cremate my father.

"Despite my devastation, I was luckier than most Indians," Ms Dutt added. "I think of the families that need cremation grounds, where bodies have been lying on the floor.

"I'm speaking as an angry Indian who feels betrayed at the callousness and the tone deafness and the complete denial I continue to see around.

"We have been failed by policymakers, by politicians. We've been failed by the government that did not think to put in place a contingency plan for the second wave."

She pointed to Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who has continued to insist that despite the deepening crisis, which has long surpassed 2020's first wave, India is now better equipped to deal with the virus.

That assertion rings hollow in her loss and grief — she has now lost both parents, and feels as if she has been "orphaned today," Ms Dutt said.

"My father's last words to me were, 'I'm choking. Please give me treatment.' And I tried my best," she said. "I have nobody left."

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They keep coming

As India's second wave of coronavirus sweeps through the country, bodies are piling up faster than workers can cremate them or build new pyres.

Flames crackle over the wails and prayers of grieving families as they mourn loved ones laid on funeral pyres that burn through the night in New Delhi.

"Before the pandemic, we used to cremate eight to 10 people (daily)," said Jitender Singh Shunty, head of the Seemapuri crematorium in eastern New Delhi. "Now, we are cremating 100 to 120 a day."

Demand is so high that Seemapuri crematorium has expanded into its parking lot, where dozens of workers construct new cremation platforms from bricks and mortar. There is so little space and so many bodies that families have to get a ticket and wait in line for their turn.

So many fires have been lit in New Delhi that wood stocks are running low.

On Tuesday, Jai Prakash, the mayor of North Delhi, wrote a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, asking that the forest department provide a steady supply.

In the meantime, families are having to pay for the wood to burn their relatives' bodies. Many see no choice, as they jockey for space at crowded crematoriums.

Cremation is considered an important part of Hindu funeral rites, due to the belief the body must be destroyed for the soul to proceed to reincarnation.

Scott Morrison "acknowledged the system let Brittany Higgins down" in the first meeting between the pair since she alleged she was raped in Parliament House.

The former Liberal staffer went public in February with allegations she was sexually assaulted by a male political staffer in then-Defence Industry Minister Linda Reynolds' ministerial office in the early hours of March 23, 2019.

Ms Higgins has been pushing for cultural reform in Parliament since then and described her first meeting with Mr Morrison today as "difficult".

READ MORE: Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins says review 'long overdue'

"It was a difficult conversation to have on a personal level," Ms Higgins said.

She said the discussion with Mr Morrison was "honest and frank", and she believes the prime minister now has a deeper understanding of what happened to her. 

"He fundamentally seemed to understand what had happened to me… and that was encouraging," Ms Higgins said. 

"It was a difficult conversation, it was robust, but ultimately, in the end, I think there was a consensus that reform needs to happen." 

"And he is going to do the right thing by the women here," she added. 

Mr Morrison said he was pleased to hear more about how he can make parliament workplaces "safe and more respectful".

"We are committed to reform of the Parliamentary workplace," he said in a statement.

"I look forward to her participating in the ongoing discussions on this matter through the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces.

Mr Morrison said Ms Higgins' views would be "invaluable" to the independent inquiry into Parliament House's workplace culture, led by sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins.

"I acknowledged her courage in coming forward and assisting in this work," he said.

"I am committed to achieving an independent process to deal with these difficult issues."

Mr Morrison said he use the meeting to thank her for her "contribution to his government".

Ms Higgins accepted a formal invitation from Mr Morrison last week, outlining what she wished to discuss, including reforms to the Fair Work Act in respect to staff terminations of Parliamentarians and the establishment of an Independent Complaints Body.

Ms Higgins is also calling for improved procedures for Department of Public Service (DPS) employees.

She met with Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese this morning, who said she was possessed of "extraordinary courage".

READ MORE: Former Parliament staffer Brittany Higgins announces forthcoming memoir

"But the first thing that I'd say about today's meeting was that it was an opportunity for me to listen," Mr Albanese said.

"We need to listen to women and to listen to their concerns, to listen to the experience that they've gone through, and to listen to their views about solutions."

Mr Albanese has backed Ms Higgins' calls for an independent body that people in parliament, from staffers to senators, could resort to.

"To build confidence in the system, there's a need for an independent body so that any woman or any staff member faced with the issues which Brittany was faced with, with the reported sexual assault, or people with other issues related to staffing, relating to culture in Parliament House or in parliamentary offices, are able to go forward and get independent advice," he said.

"At the moment, the way that the parliamentary services act operates is to really give no power for members of staff to be able to raise issues."

A Melbourne woman who was threatened at knifepoint by an armed intruder says she is too frightened to stay in her home.

Two armed burglars forced their way into the Glenroy home, in the city's north-west, about 4.30am on Monday, terrorising tenant Kayla just minutes after her 34-year-old husband Cory left for work.

The intruders wreaked havoc inside the rental property, causing thousands of dollars' worth of damage and stealing a computer with precious family photos. 

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Kayla told 9News she feared for her life as one of the men held a knife just inches away from her throat.

"I thought I was going to die," she said.

"I didn't think I was gonna survive it.

"He's put the knife two inches away from my throat.

"He's tried to lunge the knife, tried to stab me. He's threatened to kill me."

One of the men made aggressive demands for money during the terrifying encounter.

"The guy was telling me: 'Where's my thousand dollars? Give me my f—ing money'," she said.

Meanwhile, the second man was stealing a knife, handbag and a computer with precious photos of Kayla's grandfather.

"I can't get any of that stuff back because it's all gone now."

The couple's trusted Staffy, Willow, saved the day by jumping on the intruders in a protective defence, causing them to step back, Kayla said.

The pair smashed the couple's $4000 TV before fleeing the scene.

Cory, 34, said he felt like he failed to protect his wife as he was not home at the time of the terrifying ordeal.

"I wasn't worried about the house, I was worried about my wife because …. in a way I feel like I failed at my job," he said.

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Police are investigating the aggravated burglary and have a number of leads.

The burglars are described as stocky and Middle Eastern in appearance and were last seen taking off in a silver Holden Astra.

The couple only moved into the rental around four weeks ago, but after what happened they say they are too terrified to stay here.

They desperately want to break their lease but are embroiled in a dispute with their real estate agent.

"I don't want to and I can't," Kayla said.

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