A snap Brisbane lockdown threatens to have an adverse impact on this weekend’s Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour.
Greater Brisbane, which includes the capital itself and four other local government areas, will go into a three-day lockdown from this evening at 17:00 (local time/AEST) due to community transmission of the United Kingdom strain of COVID-19.
Assuming no extension, the lockdown would therefore end on the eve of track activity at Mount Panorama.
Restrictions are set to be reviewed on Wednesday night.
CLICK HERE for Bathurst 6 Hour schedule
New South Wales has not yet responded to the latest developments from north of the Tweed, but Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is calling for other states to join her in declaring Greater Brisbane a hotspot.
The relevant local government areas are Brisbane City, Logan, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, and Redland.
At this stage, only those who have visited official ‘places of high concern’, those being a specific list of commercial premises in Greater Brisbane, are not allowed to enter NSW.
While those affected would include competitors in the Bathurst 6 Hour itself, it should be noted that the likes of Shane van Gisbergen could be impacted given he was slated to drive for Brisbane-based Triple Eight Race Engineering in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS round.
Chaz Mostert is set to compete in Supercheap Auto TCR Australia and Australian GT but lives on the Gold Coast and his movements beyond his base would be key.
Update 11:07 AEDT
No change yet advised to NSW restrictions, but NSW Health has issued the following updates due to two people infected with COVID-19 visiting Byron Bay from Queensland:
“Queensland Health has advised that two new cases of COVID-19 attended a number of venues in the Byron Bay area from Friday March 26 to Sunday March 28 before returning to Queensland.
“Urgent investigations and contact tracing are underway, and NSW Health will provide further updates throughout the day.
“NSW Health is advising people against non-essential travel to the Greater Brisbane area at this time.”
Urgent investigations and contact tracing are underway, and NSW Health will provide further updates throughout the day.
NSW Health is advising people against non-essential travel to the Greater Brisbane area at this time.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) March 29, 2021
Update 12:23 AEDT
UPDATE: Bathurst 6 Hour organisers respond
Discussion about this post