Long waits at Canberra's COVID testing sites as Brisbane enters lockdown

Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said authorities were ramping up capacity to counteract the loss of the Garran surge centre.

ACT Health has told those who travelled to the Brisbane City Council or Moreton Bay Regional Council areas anytime from March 11 to get tested for COVID-19 and isolate until they have a negative result.

More than 800 people have registered with health authorities to say they have been in the greater Brisbane area, and hundreds have turned up to testing centres as directed.

The Garran COVID-19 testing centre was adapted to a vaccine clinic in recent weeks, dropping testing capacity in the ACT and this had now increased pressure on other facilities.

READ MORE:

One Canberran told The Canberra Times she was told to expect to wait four hours at EPIC, after already waiting an hour.

"I'm leaving, this is beyond awful," the woman, who asked not to be named, said.

"I understand the ACT is being super vigilant and I support that. But ACT Health seems not to have anticipated the resources that would be required to make sure everyone got tested. This facility can't handle it."

Ms Stephen-Smith said additional staff had been brought in to cope with growing queues over the weekend.

"Our health system is also experiencing a lot of demand right now, and so we are doing our best to staff up at the existing testing centres, but we do ask for people's patience," she said.

Ms Stephen-Smith urged anyone in quarantine who did not have symptoms to wait to get tested later in the week, to ease demand.

"If you're in quarantine already, you are not presenting any threat of transmission to the wider community, so you can wait until tomorrow to get tested," she said.

Ms Stephen-Smith said about 5000 people had been contacted by ACT Health after returning from Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

"Some of those people won't have spent time in greater Brisbane, they might have transited through, but [we're] just making sure that we have the contact details so that we can update them on what the requirements are," she said.

It comes as greater Brisbane was ordered into a snap three-day lockdown following a spike in cases in the Queensland capital.

From 6pm, non-ACT residents will need to a give a valid reason to enter the territory from Brisbane and get an exemption before they travel.

Returning ACT residents must alert authorities to their travel plans and isolate immediately on return for the length of the Brisbane lockdown.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palasczuk announced on Monday there had four new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in Brisbane with two of those being under investigation.

The lockdown will apply to anyone who has been in Brisbane since March 20 and will start from 5pm on Monday.

Two people have been identified in the ACT as close contacts of a Brisbane resident who tested positive to COVID-19.

ACT Health authorities said the two people had returned to Canberra after being at an exposure site that had been visited by the Brisbane COVID case.

A further 11 Canberrans have been identified as being casual contacts of Brisbane COVID-cases.

ACT Health officials have said they are monitoring the situation in Queensland, but no changes to restrictions or public health directions have been made.

Travellers who have arrived in Canberra from Brisbane since March 11 have been required to fill out an online declaration.

ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith told ABC Radio Canberra that 828 ACT residents had completed an online form declaring they had returned to the ACT after visiting Brisbane.

SMS and email notifications had been sent out to more than 5000 people who had arrived in Canberra via plane since March 11.

An ACT Health spokeswoman said the two Canberrans in isolation were being supported by health authorities.

"With Easter and the school holidays starting next weekend, it is important that anyone with upcoming travel plans is keeping up to date with the situation in Queensland and be prepared to change travel plans at short notice," the spokeswoman said.

READ MORE:

Queensland health authorities have scrambled to determine how the outbreak started ahead of the one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

Council areas in Brisbane have been declared as COVID hotspots by the ACT, NSW, Western Australia and Victoria.

State borders have not been closed following the COVID outbreak.

Virgin Australia said services were operating as normal on Monday, but "changes to customer demand and booking trends may require us to adjust our forward schedule".

"Customers should ensure they check the latest information on the respective Government websites prior to travel," it said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: