Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk fears a COVID-19 outbreak following a mass rally in Brisbane and yet has thanked protesters for social distancing.
Thousands poured into Brisbane's CBD on Saturday calling for reform to the justice system while highlighting that 432 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had died in custody since 1991.
Ms Palaszczuk said although she asked people to stay home, she understood why they wanted to express their support for the Black Lives Matter movement and they had done so "respectfully".
"I thank Queenslanders for adhering to social distancing...I understand that there was hand sanitiser, " Ms Palaszczuk said.
"We'll have to see how our health response goes...to see what the results are in the next couple of weeks."
LNP opposition leader Deb Frecklington said the mass gathering was irresponsible and the sacrifices made over the past few months could be for nothing.
"It's just heartbreaking for those that have shut their businesses or lost their jobs. It's against the health rules," she said.
The protest occurred on the same day Queensland Health announced it was scrambling to trace the movements of a man who flew to Queensland while infectious with COVID-19.
The 24-year-old flew to Brisbane on Monday, where he socialised with friends and family, before flying to Bundaberg, checking into shared accommodation and working a shift at a strawberry farm.
More than 250 tests have been conducted, including 147 at a pop-up clinic set up at the farm-worker accommodation, with 57 returning negative results including 15 who he associated with in Brisbane.
Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said the remaining results would be returned over the next 24 hours.
"These are early days and we have much more work to do before we can be confident there has been no further transmission," Ms Young said.
Despite the seriousness of the health scare, Queensland's statewide tally is stagnant at 1061 with just three active cases across the state.
Yet, Queensland's borders remain closed until at least July while Ms Palaszczuk spruiked intrastate travel with the 'Queensland - You're Good to Go' campaign.
Her government on Sunday announced a $50 million recovery package for tourism operators which included a $3 million gift to the Irwin family's Australia Zoo, which will reopen on Friday.
"I'll be rolling out the extra funding to other tourist destinations, across Queensland but hopefully that $3 million will go a long way to providing that necessary industry support," Ms Palaszczuk said.
Australian Associated Press
