Almost half of all Australians are in lockdown as the country battles a wave of the coronavirus affecting almost all corners for the first time during the pandemic.
The Delta variant of COVID-19 is proving to be so contagious that leaders are shutting down large portions of their states after only a few cases each, with more than 11 million people nationally now in the grips of the strictest virus restrictions.
The latest is Queensland where contact tracers face the daunting task of finding any new cases linked to a 19-year-old woman who was infectious with the Delta variant during a busy 10 days across the state.
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Those tracers have a three-day window, the length of a lockdown issued by an "absolutely furious" Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for South East Queensland, Townsville city, Palm Island and Magnetic Island.
"Finish your day, wherever you are … and go home," Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said on Tuesday as the state was told it faced a worrying outbreak of the virus.
"The risk is real and we need to act quickly," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"We need to go hard and we need to go fast."
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About 13 million in lockdown
The current crisis began in NSW, where roughly 5.5 million people in Greater Sydney are in lockdown for two weeks as the Bondi cluster nears 150 cases.
The Northern Territory ordered its first lockdown of the pandemic at the weekend, putting about 200,000 people in Darwin under tough restrictions after an outbreak linked to a gold mine.
Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan maintained his unapologetic expeditiousness in putting an estimated 2 million people in Perth and Peel in a four-day lockdown on Monday night after only a third new case.
Queensland's lockdown is so wide ranging that it captures about 5 million people, taking the national total in excess of at least 11 million who are being forced to stay home.
Queensland's third and latest case, the 19-year-old woman, is an unvaccinated receptionist at a COVID ward at Prince Charles Hospital in Chermside, in Brisbane's north, who was found to be infectious for 10 days whilst in the community.
During those 10 days she took flights with her family in and out of Brisbane and Townsville and visited Magnetic Island.
Two of the woman's family members are showing signs of sickness and are awaiting test results, raising fears over how far they may have spread the virus.
"Let me say, I am absolutely furious about this," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"We need to make sure that we are getting our population vaccinated, right across the state."
Ms Palaszczuk confirmed a full investigation would be launched into the reason why she was not vaccinated.
The premier confirmed hospital staff who worked inside the ward had to be vaccinated, but it was unclear if the guidelines included the woman and her role.
"For some reason she wasn't vaccinated, there will be a full investigation into that."
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