Media have identified Olivia Winnie Muranga (left) and Diana Lasu (right) as the two women at the centre of a major Covid-19 health alert in Queensland. (Facebook)
Two woman at the centre of a major Queensland Covid-19 scare have been identified, while the hunt begins to trace their contacts.
Authorities confirmed on Wednesday that two people who had tested positive for coronavirus had returned to Brisbane on July 21 after travelling from Melbourne through Sydney.
According to Queensland’s Courier Mail, the pair are Diana Lasu and Olivia Winnie Muranga , both 19 and residents of the state.
The women allegedly lied to border authorities about having been to Melbourne. Residents returning to Queensland from the city are currently required to go into mandatory 14-day self-isolation, due to the ongoing outbreaks there. Penalties of $4,003 or six months in jail are in place for lying on Covid-19 border travel declaration forms.
They are thought to have been active in the community while infectious for up to eight days before testing positive.
A major health alert has been issued for 11 venues across greater Brisbane, which the women attended during that time. Anyone who visited the venues on certain days over the past week, or were on the women’s flights, have been urged to isolate immediately and be tested.
A third woman, 22, linked to the pair has also tested positive for coronavirus.
Queensland’s only active cases of Covid-19 were returned overseas travellers who were in isolation, until the three women announced on Wednesday.
The state’s Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on Wednesday that residents from greater Sydney will be barred from entering the state. The new travel ban comes in to force from Saturday.
Ms Muranga works as a cleaner Parklands Christian College in Park Ridge, in Brisbane’s south, which on Wednesday was closed for deep cleaning. A pop-up Covid-19 testing clinic has been set up at the school.
Ms Muranga was at the school for three days before calling in sick, according to school’s principal Gary Cully.
“The staff member was on site last week and then rang in sick and then that’s when the trace program started,’ Mr Cully told The Courier Mail.
‘As far as I’m aware they were not symptomatic while they were onsite and then called in sick the following day and then the next week were tested.’
Health authorities have urged anyone who visited the following locations and times to “immediately self-quarantine and contact 13 HEALTH”:
The health alert has also been issued for passengers of flight VA863 from Melbourne to Sydney, and flight VA977 from Sydney to Brisbane, on 21 July.