Dozens of people have been released from a backpackers hostel in Brisbane this morning, after completing two weeks of mandatory quarantine.
Key points:
- 62 backpackers were forced to isolate in the hostel after a positive case
- One guests says it was just a "big party"
- Brisbane's mass vaccination hub is set to administer about 1,500 vaccines today
It comes as Queensland's mass COVID vaccination hub opens at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Sixty-two guests and the owner of the City Backpacker HQ hostel were forced to isolate inside the Roma Street building for 14 days, after a guest tested positive to COVID-19.
One of the guests, Clay, said it was the "worst experience of my life".
"Don't get caught if you can help it. It wasn't a very pleasant experience," he said.
"Plenty of people were mingling ... I thought it was meant to be isolation but it was just a big party.
"I stayed in my room, but … it was business as usual for [the rest of them], they just did backpacker stuff, hung out at the pool, partied.
"There was lots of drinking.
Yesterday, the owner of the hostel Sander Kamman, who was also forced to quarantine, said the area had a lot of communal space that guests were allowed to use.
"So they've been able to go outside, enjoy the sunshine, do a little bit of sun-bathing, sit on the picnic tables, so I've taken it as a normal day's work," he said.
"The hardest thing for them is to not have a normal daily routine, like going to work, or going to South Bank, strolling the city."
Clay said he couldn't sleep last night.
"You're concerned as to whether something else is going to pop up and you're going to run into the same obstacle and the 14 days is going to start again," he said.
Patrick Baxter, from England, said he had only been in Australia for one week after arriving from New Zealand when the backpacker accommodation was locked down.
"We got a saliva test everyday and then the nose [tests] three times," Mr Baxter said.
"I should have stayed there [in New Zealand], but it is what it is," he said.
"I'm going to try and find an apartment now because I don't want to deal with this stuff again."
Hooman Firoozmand said he managed to make a few friends while in lockdown at the hostel but planned to stay with a friend in the city.
More than 180,000 vaccines booked over next 30 days
Meanwhile, a mass vaccination hub has opened in Brisbane, and is fully booked out for its official launch.
Vaccines, predominantly Pfizer, have been administered from 8:30am, with 1,500 people booked in to receive the COVID jab.
Queensland Health Minister Yvette D'Ath told ABC Radio Brisbane capacity would be boosted in coming days when more supply was delivered from the Commonwealth.
"We're supposed to get about 56,000 extra coming to us I believe by Friday from the Commonwealth and this is part of that 112,000 the Prime Minister announced he's bringing forward from September," she said.
"We want to see a really good jump in our numbers once that supply comes, so we really hope that it arrives on time, and we can see us delivering around 3,000 vaccines a day come Saturday.
"Yesterday, our first day of registrations we had 50,000 people, which is wonderful and we've got 188,000 people already booked in across our Queensland Health sites over the next 30 days."
Kelly Bradtke was the first in line to get a vaccination at the hub and said she had been waiting eagerly for the chance.
"I really wanted to have my vaccination and have been very frustrated that I haven't been able to get Pfizer before now," she said.
"But I'm so excited, I found out yesterday that I could get in today."
Some AstraZeneca will be administed for people getting their second dose.
Free parking will be available for those getting the vaccine.
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2021-08-10 21:39:10Z
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