Wolston Correctional Centre locked down

Wolston Correctional Centre will remain locked down this morning while Queensland Heath undertakes contact tracing for an officer who has tested positive while off duty. The officer last attended the centre 12 days ago.

An offender development officer who was last on shift on April 8 was tested for COVID-19 on April 14, and received advice yesterday afternoon that they were positive.

April 8 was the day that Queensland Corrective Services introduced health screening and temperature checking for all officers at the start of shift, and the officer showed no symptoms of COVID-19 prior to commencement of shift.

On advice of the positive test, the centre immediately started to work with Queensland Health to identify the people with whom the officer had contact with in the time they may have been contagious.

As a precaution, their work team have been given orders to self-isolate while this work is undertaken. All have undergone health screening and temperature checks prior to entering the prison every shift.

A number of prisoners across the centre may also have had contact with the officer, and they have been identified. Steps are being taken to isolate these prisoners and provide testing as necessary.

To date there have been no prisoners test positive to COVID-19 in Queensland prisons, including Wolston.

The parts of the prison frequented by the officer, including the programs staff office and the classrooms are undergoing a forensic clean this morning.

Wolston Correctional Centre will remain in lockdown until such time as we receive advice from Queensland Health that it is safe to ease restrictions. We will provide further information as it becomes available.