Coronavirus: Two new community cases in Brisbane on day two of COVID-19 lockdown, one in NSW

Brisbane's community COVID-19 outbreak has grown by another two cases - a result Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has hailed as "very encouraging" - but has spread to neighbouring New South Wales.

The Australian city entered a three-day lockdown on Monday after a community cluster grew and two other cases emerged without explanation. Eight new community cases were reported a day later.

Wednesday's result - which saw just two new community cases emerge, both of which have been linked back to existing clusters - will allay fears in Queensland of a widespread outbreak that could prompt a more severe response from officials.

"We're very pleased with the results, and I think that all Queenslanders should be proud of the mighty effort that they've put in," Palaszczuk told media at a press conference on Wednesday.

However it's since emerged that the outbreak has spread to New South Wales.

The new community case is a man in his 20s now who attended the Byron Beach Hotel at the same time as a hen's party attended by people from Queensland who later tested positive for the virus.

The emergence of the new case has resulted in some minor restrictions being reintroduced in four areas - Byron, Ballina, Tweed and Lismore - that limit gathering sizes and the density of hospitality venues, and make mask use mandatory until the end of the Easter period.

"There is no cause for us to go beyond what we are advocating but we do ask citizens, especially in those four local government areas, to be extra vigilant, to come forward for testing," said NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the new case is a man in his 20s who attended the Byron Beach Hotel.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the new case is a man in his 20s who attended the Byron Beach Hotel. Photo credit: Getty / 7 News

"We do want to thank this particular person who was tested positive since last night."

In Brisbane, it's much better news.

Palaszczuk says a decision on whether to lift the lockdown restrictions will be made at 9am on Thursday morning (local time). While she wouldn't commit to ending the lockdown, she said things were "looking positive".

"Fingers crossed, all will be looking good for Easter," she said. "It depends on the testing rates. So if we see very good testing rates across Queensland and we don’t see any unlinked community transmission, the signs for Easter are looking positive."

Queensland's chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young says both new cases are linked to a nurse who worked at Princess Alexandra Hospital. She's the source of one of two clusters in Brisbane, which now comprises 11 cases.

"I already have the genome sequence back for one of those two cases and it is exactly the same as the genome sequences for that second cluster related to the nurse and her friends, who were in that party who went down to Byron Bay," she said.

"We're now working through whether this second nurse in that cluster [detected on Wednesday] acquired it on the ward. She does work on the ward, was tested as part of the asymptomatic screening testing process and was found to be positive.

"She has since developed some symptoms, but she was part of that testing. So we just need to work out how she got it on that ward...

"We're just working through all of that at the moment - but it's very good news."