Qld has 13 virus deaths, 4801 new cases

Laine Clark | March 9, 2022

Queensland has recorded another 13 COVID-19 deaths and 4801 new cases amid a civil libertarian’s calls to end the chief health officer’s “extraordinary draconian powers”.

The new cases emerged after 10,776 tests in the 24 hours to 6.30am on Wednesday, taking the number of active cases to 28,524.

There are currently 262 COVID-19 patients in Queensland hospitals including 19 in intensive care.

The new cases were announced as a parliamentary committee reviews a bill that will extend CHO John Gerrard’s powers to respond to the pandemic under a public health emergency in Queensland until October 31.

Queensland’s Council for Civil Liberties opposes the bill, saying it had the potential to become an “unjustified straitjacket”.

The CHO’s powers were last extended in September ahead of a COVID-19 wave.

QCCL president Michael Cope says it’s unnecessary to do so again because there’s no longer a public health emergency in the state due to high vaccination rates and a well prepared health care system.

The latest figures show that 93.04 per cent of eligible Queenslanders have had one vaccine jab while 91.12 per cent have had two.

Mr Cope has called for the government to stop “micromanaging people’s lives”.

“The government has yet again failed to tell us what criteria it will use to decide that the emergency is over,” he said in a statement.

“The only justification given is that it needs flexibility, particularly to deal with the situation that might arise because of a combination of ‘flu and COVID.

“The flipside of the so-called flexibility is an unjustified straitjacket on the liberty of Queenslanders.”

Mr Cope said a state of emergency should only be declared again if the health care system “comes under severe threat” by a COVID variant.

“Older people missed out on hugging their grand kids and simple things…children and young people are being deprived of a chunk of their lives which they will never get back,” he said.

“It is time to allow people to make their own assessment of how they want to spend their time and the risks involved.”