Queensland Health Minister and Deputy Premier, Steven Miles, says no new cases have been identified at the North Rockhampton Nursing Centre – two weeks after an Enrolled Nurse working as a receptionist tested positive.
It has now been revealed that Queensland Health discovered only on Thursday that she had travelled to Kuala Lumpur in late March – six weeks prior to her positive test – a detail which was not disclosed to contact tracing officers when she was first diagnosed.
The Queensland Nurses’ Professional Association says the nurse did self-isolate on her return, but after those 14 days, travelled to Blackwater – which is why she has been linked with the death of a 30-year-old man – before testing positive a month later.
The QNPA says the woman was not required to tell authorities of her trip and “it was irrelevant”.
“The only questions she was asked was about her movements before she was diagnosed,” a spokesperson said, labeling the Government’s investigation of the nurse a “political witch-hunt”.
The health authorizes had re-interviewed the woman about the death of 30-year-old Nathan Turner, who was found dead at his home in Blackwater on Tuesday night and later tested positive for COVID-19 after it emerged that she had visited Blackwater while potentially infectious.
The state’s Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeannette Young, has made it clear that the investigation into the nurse is still ongoing.
“She gave us one story and then, subsequent to that, we’ve found out additional information,” she said. “So, we need to try and untangle and sort that through. That’s very, very important.”
But Mr Miles does appear to have already made up his mind at least.
“Lives are literally at risk,” he said.
“It appears to me incredibly unlikely that somebody wasn’t asked whether they had travelled overseas when that is such a focus of our investigation efforts of all coronavirus cases.”
