BRISBANE: A three-day lockdown imposed in Australia's third largest city of Brisbane will be lifted after no new locally acquired Covid-19 cases were recorded over the weekend, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk revealed on Monday.
The lockdown was introduced in response to a hotel quarantine worker testing positive for a new and more contagious coronavirus strain which was first discovered in Britain, reports Xinhua news agency.
While the lockdown is scheduled to end at 6 p.m. on Monday, Palaszczuk said that additional restrictions would remain in place for the next 10 days to ensure the strain does not re-emerge in the community.
Measures included mandating face masks for indoor public areas and reducing patron limits on bars, restaurants and other venues.
"We want to make sure that that incubation period, that 14 days, has totally lapsed before we return back to normal, " Palaszczuk said.
Meanwhile, Sydney officially recorded three new locally acquired Covid-19 cases on Monday, all of which were linked to a known cluster which totalled 26 cases.