Retailers slam bizarre call by Queensland's top doctor for locked-down locals to not even shop ONLINE for the rest of the week so delivery drivers don't have to leave their homes

Confusion over advice provided by Queensland's top doctor on essential retail has been slammed by a leading retailers' organisation.

At yesterday's Covid update chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young bizarrely urged Queenslanders to avoid online shopping to help prevent the movement of people needed to deliver packages.

But the National Retail Association pointed out that government health directives on retail since the lockdown started were 'contradictory' and left business owners guessing. 

'On Monday and Tuesday, shoppers were being urged to use online shopping to reduce the number of shoppers in stores,' NRA chief executive Dominique Lamb said yesterday.

'Today, the official advice is to avoid online shopping to reduce the number of delivery workers in the community.' 

National Retail Association chief executive Dominique Lamb criticised official Queensland health advice on essential retail, including online shopping, as 'contradictory'

Co-owner of Gold Coast small business Leina and Fleur, Fleur Richardson, said online shopping was paramount to keeping her business alive

Co-owner of Gold Coast small business Leina and Fleur, Fleur Richardson, said online shopping was paramount to keeping her business alive.

'If everyone stopped online shopping overnight we would not have a business at all,' she said.

'What Jeanette Young is really saying is stop the economy.

'We really want to get clarity not only for ourselves, but for our staff because there's a real fearmongering around the language sometimes.' 

Uncertainty also continued over which retail stores are considered essential, after pictures emerged yesterday of Queenslanders shopping for garden furniture. 

Yesterday, Dr Young told those locked down in 11 south-east Queensland LGAs to ask themselves if they 'really needed' to open their front door to go out shopping.

'Instead when you open your front door, could you, please, think "do I really need to go outside my front door today?"

'Maybe just stay home because you can only move this virus around if the person moves around.'   

Queensland's chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young urged Queenslanders to reconsider shopping during the lockdown, including purchasing items online

An Australia Post worker delivers a package on a street at the Gold Coast, Queensland

Locals walk in Brisbane on Wednesday. The south-east region of Queensland is experiencing its largest Covid outbreak since mid-2020

Deputy Premier Steven Miles reiterated the point, highlighting the need to only leave home for essential goods.

'You can't go out because you need milk, but stop to look at EB Games or JB Hi-Fi,' he said.  

On Wednesday, Queensland Health released a list of essential retailers including supermarkets, food outlets, pharmacies and petrol stations as well as electronics, basic clothing and hardware retailers.

While the directives also encourage operations in a way that facilitates minimal or no contact with the community, there remains uncertainty as the list is a guide and 'not limited to'.       

Queensland recorded 16 new local Covid cases on Wednesday including a mystery case in Cairns that has a different, unknown source to the main outbreak in Brisbane 1,600km away.

The Delta strain outbreak that began last week now has 100 cases in the state, more than at any time since Australia's first Covid wave early last year.  

Dr Young pressured residents in the 11 locked down local councils of southeast Queensland to not only stay home, but not give anyone else a reason to go out. 

'I need every single person who lives in the 11 LGAs instead of reading a direction and working out what they might be able to do under that direction,' she said.

Dr Young with people to reconsider online shopping and try to get through the rest of the week with what they had in their house.

'I'm a great online shopper,' she said. 'Could you think about whether you need to do online shopping this week? 

'Do you need those people out in the community delivering packages and things? Maybe just leave them for a week. 

'And click and collect - do you really need that furniture that I know you can go and click and collect which is safer, absolutely, than going into the store, but it still means you're putting someone else at risk.

Dr Young ramped up the pressure on Queenslanders by warning if they didn't 'do something really, really, really special' the lockdown would be extended.  

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath backed up Dr Young's comments and put the onus on Queenslanders to stay home despite official directives. 

'The next five days, it's up to you whether we extend this lockdown,' she said. 

'As Dr Young says, don't worry about what the directives and the law says, do you want to go out and risk getting the virus and bringing it back to your household and risk an extension of the lockdown?'

Ms D'Ath reiterated Dr Young's extreme call to avoid online shopping until Sunday, and only order or go shopping in the most critical circumstances.

'So even if you are ordering stuff online if that means someone's going to have to come to your household to deliver that, to bring stuff into your household. If it's not essential, absolutely essential, just hold off a few days,' she said.

Health workers are seen at a testing clinic in Indooroopilly State High School on Wednesday

Policemen stop vehicles to check for compliance with lockdown orders at a random pop-up site in Brisbane on Wednesday. Queensland Police announced yesterday it would install RBT-style roadblocks to ensure drivers have a valid reason for travelling

Yesterday's 16 new cases were linked to the Indooroopilly State High School cluster, bringing Queensland's active cases to 100.

Four cases were linked to Ironside state school including one teacher, and two other cases were linked to Indooroopilly State High School.

One case was linked to Brisbane Boys Grammar and nine other cases were close contacts or family members of cases already identified in the cluster.

'That brings this outbreak to 63 genomically linked cases meaning that in less than a week, this has become our biggest outbreak since the first wave last year,' Mr Miles said.   

Mr Miles said the case of a Covid-positive pilot discovered in Cairns on Tuesday afternoon was still under investigation. 

'It's confirmed to be the Delta strain but not linked to the current outbreak in Brisbane,' he said.

Dr Young said it was 'highly likely' the Cairns pilot had acquired the Delta virus while working guiding ships through hazardous waters.

'His family members who live in the same household as him, his partner and child, are negative,' he said.

'But he did take his child to a child care centre so that's why the childcare centre... has been closed while they clean it and assess the risk there.'

Ms D'Ath said there were nine testing sites run by Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service, and another 20 private testing clinics in the city and surrounding areas.

Testing clinics in Cairns had been added and hours extended after a positive Delta case was confirmed in a maritime pilot from the city

People queue for a Covid test in Brisbane on Tuesday as the south-east Queensland outbreak grew

Queensland's 16 new local cases remain linked to the Indooroopilly State High School cluster

Mr Miles also confirmed that Queensland's Ekka public holiday next Wednesday had been cancelled.

'It will be rescheduled to some time later in the year,' he said. 'We have not yet determined when.' 

Police Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said compliance with lockdown orders had improved but 48 fines were issued and four people were arrested on Tuesday. 

'That includes seven for masks and 34 for general non-compliance with the directions in terms of being out in the community when people did not have a valid reason,' he said. 

Queensland now has almost 200 close contact exposure sites.   

Dr Young said on Tuesday she was still uncertain about how the outbreak is linked to the initial two cases who arrived from overseas in late June, as she encouraged Queenslanders to keep testing numbers high.

'It's really important so that we can just make sure that we don't have any other transmission events,' she said. 

There is still hope the lockdown that covers 11 LGAs, from the border with NSW to Noosa, will lift as planned at 4pm on Sunday. 

A cleaner in protective gear is seen at Ironside State School in Brisbane on Tuesday. A number of Brisbane schools had been 

Health workers perform duties at a pop up Covid-19 testing clinic in Brisbane yesterday

'Everyone just stay at home if you can at all, and that way we'll get through this, and we can lift on Sunday. That's absolutely my aim,' Dr Young said.  

Meanwhile, Dr Young changed her tune on the AstraZeneca at Tuesday's press conference.

She had long insisted only those aged over 60 should get the AstraZeneca vaccine - despite Australian government advice recently shifting to include younger people.

Even on Monday, Dr Young stood by her position that younger Queenslanders should wait for Pfizer or Moderna because of a rare risk of clotting illnesses.  

'I said I didn't want 18 year olds to have AstraZeneca -- and I still don't. Even now,' she said.

She then nominated 60 as an appropriate age to get the Oxford University-designed vaccine.

But Dr Young appeared to shift away from her harsh previous stance on Tuesday, as the state reported 16 further cases of the highly infectious Indian Delta strain. 

'Now is the time that people who are under the age 60 should be talking to their GP about what is best for them as an individual,' she said on Tuesday.

'GPs know their patients and know what advice to give them'.