Community transmission of COVID-19 has returned to Queensland, with its newest case being a man who ate at the same restaurant as an infected woman charged with illegally entering the state.
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The 27-year-old Bellbird Park man is believed to have caught the virus when dining with his family at the Madtongsan IV Korean restaurant at Sunnybank on July 23.
Authorities initially indicated he caught the virus from a family member, but Queensland Health says the man is a direct contact of one of three women returning from Melbourne who allegedly lied on their border passes.
"Along with five others who are being COVID-19 tested, they dined on a table adjacent to one of the recently identified cases who returned from Victoria," a Queensland Health spokesperson said in a statement.
The man and his family, two of whom work in an aged care home, are in quarantine as authorities track down all their close contacts.
A spokesman for the Pinjarra Hills residential aged care community said the two staff members last worked on July 28.
"Both took immediate action to undergo testing and self-isolate when they became aware they had been at one of the restaurants identified in health alerts," Bolton Clarke chief operating officer David Swain said.
All residents are receiving care in their rooms, and the facility is shut to visitors.
The man's relatives are yet to test positive.
He is the only case recorded in Queensland on Friday, but the second case of community transmission linked to the cluster, after one of the women's sisters tested positive earlier this week.
Qld Health on Friday evening issued a public health alert for anyone who attended a number of locations in the West Moreton and Brisbane South area to get tested for COVID-19 if experiencing any symptoms.
The man visited a number of locations including petrol stations, hardware stores, a basketball court, shopping centre and medical centre from July 26 to 29, Qld Health said.
Health Minister Steven Miles said the new case underscores the importance of people giving accurate contact details.
"It underlines just how critical contact tracing efforts are," he said on Friday.
"More than 1500 contacts have now been traced related to these three cases."
The women's actions have sparked fears of a second wave in Queensland, with a number of shopping centres, schools, restaurants and a church shut for deep cleaning.
The three women at the centre of the cluster allegedly lied on their border declaration passes when they arrived at Brisbane Airport from Melbourne, via a brief stopover in Sydney on July 21.
Two of them tested positive eight days later, sending parts of Brisbane into lockdown.
All three have since been charged with fraud and providing false or misleading documents under the Public Health Act and are due to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on September 28.
A criminal investigation unrelated to their travel to Victoria is also underway.
Australian Associated Press
