Public health emergency declaration to lift on 31 October

The Public Health Emergency Declaration which formed the basis of Queensland’s successful COVID-19 response will lift on 31 October.

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Yvette D’Ath said legislation passed in State Parliament this week would create a new COVID-19 management framework to manage the next phase of the pandemic.

“The new framework will allow Queensland to adjust its approach to the management of COVID-19 to reflect the new reality we are all living with,” the Minister said.

“When the emergency declaration was first made on 29 January 2020, the world was still coming to terms with this strange virus emanating from Wuhan, China.

“The modelling at that time suggested that more than 10,000 Queenslanders would lose their lives if there was widespread community transmission before vaccination.

“We must acknowledge that even before we had a vaccine, we still lost seven lives.

“Since reaching our vaccination targets and opening our borders, we have lost 2,277 lives - and every single one of these deaths is a tragedy.

“But thanks to the collective efforts of Queenslanders, we didn’t let the virus run rampant.

“We were able to live with a semblance of normality throughout the pandemic that very few other communities had.

“It is now very clear that we are in a different stage of the pandemic.

“At our peak, there were 1,123 beds occupied by COVID patients in Queensland.

“Today, that figure stands at 92 in our public hospitals.

“At its highest, there were 54 COVID patients in our ICUs - today, that figure now sits at three.”

The legislation passed this week provides that the Chief Health Officer can only issue a public health direction if satisfied the direction is reasonably necessary to:

• prevent or respond to a serious risk to the public health system or the community as a result of COVID-19, or
• give effect to decisions of National Cabinet or advice from national advisory bodies relating to the public health response to COVID-19.

The powers the Chief Health Officer under the Bill have a sunset clause of 31 October 2023.

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