Queensland has announced a snap lockdown as the state battles to control an outbreak of COVID-19.
Authorities said the lockdown would apply to all 11 local government areas (LGAs) that currently have mask-wearing restrictions in place and will come into effect at 4pm on Saturday.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles said it would be the strictest lockdown the state has seen to date.
The lockdown comes after a high school student tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week.
Following the positive test result, hundreds of students and staff from Brisbane's Indooroopilly State High School were sent into isolation, with the school locked down for a deep clean.
The positive student had been in the community for three days, and at school for two days before becoming unwell, Queensland's Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said earlier this week.
Authorities are hoping genomic sequencing results will shed more light on how the student became infected with the virus.
On Saturday, Miles said six locally acquired cases of COVID-19 were recorded overnight, all linked to the high school case.
All new cases are the Delta strain, he said, meaning authorities had to act quickly.
"We have seen from the experience in other states that the only way to beat the Delta strain is to move quickly, to be fast, and to be strong. That is now the nationally agreed approach."
The 11 LGAs that will go into lockdown are:
- Brisbane City
- Moreton Bay Regional Council
- Gold Coast
- Ipswich
- Lockyer Valley Regional Council
- Logan City
- Noosa Shire Council
- Redland City
- Scenic Rim Regional Council
- Somerset Regional Council
- Sunshine Coast Regional Council
Miles said the lockdown would remain in place until at least 4pm on Tuesday.
Queensland's Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said if everyone obeyed the stay-at-home orders, there was a chance the lockdown wouldn't need to be extended past Tuesday.
"Let's all hope it is three days," she said.
"The more people who stay home and the more people who limit their movements, the more likely it is that it will only be three days."
