Name: Teenagers detained at Queensland shopping centre for alleged coronavirus breaches after travelling from hotspot - ABC News
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Teenagers detained at Queensland shopping centre for alleged coronavirus breaches after travelling from hotspot - ABC News

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ShareQueensland police are questioning two teenage girls at a Sunshine Coast shopping centre over alleged COVID-19 breaches.The teenagers, one from New South Wales and one from the Sunshine Coast, were detained at the Noosa Civic Shopping Centre on Monday afternoon.Police said the teenagers, aged 15 and 16, travelled to Queensland last Friday before the weekend's hard border closure but had also been in Sydney.Under Queensland's health directions, the entire state of New South Wales is a declared coronavirus hotspot.Superintendent Craig Hawkins said the pair arrived by train and allegedly lied about where they had been."They weren't completely honest with where they had been but later on we discovered they had come from a hotspot," Superintendent Hawkins said.He said neither of the girls were displaying coronavirus symptoms but all precautions were being taken. On Tuesday, Health Minister Steven Miles confirmed both girls had returned negative test results for coronavirus. Police said no charges have been laid at this stage.A retail worker from the centre, Tracey Laurie, said shopkeepers were left feeling very confused about the entire situation."Half of them want to just pack up and go home because they've got kids, some of them have got parents who are sick, and there's also been a mixture of, 'Well, I'm here anyway so I'll just keep on going'," she said."There was police everywhere and they barricaded one of the entrances off in half of the Civic and no-one really knew what was going on."The story has changed several times but as far as I'm aware, the girls visited several of the stores and the juice bar, which have apparently now shut."An hour later we were told by centre management that we were OK to reopen."Ms Laurie said she had "mixed emotions" about the situation."I'm still at work but I feel pretty confident that they'll be onto it and we'll know soon enough with the way they're going to do the testing for COVID, so we know if we have to shut down or not," she said."Panic was in the air as well, so everyone was dealing with it in a different way."Police had already met the pair in Brisbane prior to being detained for questioning on the Sunshine Coast. "We became aware of them at the train transit centre in Brisbane after police had intercepted them," Superintendent Hawkins said."Then some information came forward to discover that they had been in a New South Wales hotspot."The information prompted a police search of the teenagers who were found at Noosa Civic shopping centre earlier today where some shops were closed as a precaution.The teenagers are yet to be charged and Superintendent Mark Wheeler said that was partly due to their age. "They weren't completely honest about where they had been, but later on we discovered they had been to a hotspot," he said."But they certainly have been cooperating with us."Superintendent Hawkins reiterated that there was no need to panic about an outbreak of COVID-19 on the Sunshine Coast as the teenagers had not shown any symptoms. "We're grateful that we found them and they will go through the testing regime and be subjected to quarantine," Superintendent Wheeler said.10 Aug 202010 Aug 2020Mon 10 Aug 2020 at 4:20am, 11 Aug 202011 Aug 2020Tue 11 Aug 2020 at 12:04amMore on:

ShareQueensland police are questioning two teenage girls at a Sunshine Coast shopping centre over alleged COVID-19 breaches.The teenagers, one from New South Wales and one from the Sunshine Coast, were detained at the Noosa Civic Shopping Centre on Monday afternoon.Police said the teenagers, aged 15 and 16, travelled to Queensland last Friday before the weekend's hard border closure but had also been in Sydney.Under Queensland's health directions, the entire state of New South Wales is a declared coronavirus hotspot.Superintendent Craig Hawkins said the pair arrived by train and allegedly...

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Teenagers detained at Queensland shopping centre for alleged coronavirus breaches after travelling from hotspot - ABC News

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