The woman has been arrested for breaching a public health order
A crew member from the Australian version of
I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here who tested positive for Covid-19 has been blamed for sending thousands into lockdown.
The 31-year-old make-up artist was allowed to fly from Sydney to Ballina, New South Wales, on Saturday (September 18) because she had an exemption allowing her to travel for work-related purposes.
According to
ABC News, she then visited shops, cafes and restaurants in the area whilst she was working on the production of the show, without checking-in to any of the venues.
She later tested positive for coronavirus,
resulting in a seven-day lockdown starting on Tuesday (September 21) for the areas of Tweed, Byron Shire and Kempsey Shire.
At 1am on Wednesday (September 22), Queensland closed its borders to these areas.
Coronavirus restrictions in Australia state that people travelling from Sydney, which is in lockdown, must only leave the house for work.
The woman has since been arrested for breaches of public health orders.
Catherine Cusack, a Liberal member of the NSW upper house, called on the state Health Minister, Brad Hazzard, to resign over the incident.
She tweeted on Tuesday: "I am devastated to learn the lockdown of Byron and Tweed LGAs triggered by a so called 'essential worker' closing businesses, schools and ruining cross border progress. 100% OUTRAGEOUS! Brad Hazzard massive fail - RESIGN!"
https://twitter.com/katieqs/status/1440229473870249984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1440229473870249984%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.sky.com%2Fstory%2Fcovid-19-im-a-celebrity-crew-member-blamed-for-sending-thousands-of-australians-into-lockdown-12414704
ITV Studios Australia said the woman had been "fully vaccinated and was wearing PPE while at work," adding that all of her close contacts were in isolation.
A spokesperson for the production company said: "We are working with NSW Health to ensure all necessary steps are taken in relation to contact tracing, testing and further communication to anyone that needs to isolate."
Australia continues to have some of the world's strictest coronavirus measures. While infection levels have been extremely low for the country throughout the pandemic, it is currently experiencing some of its highest levels of infection ever and is struggling with slow vaccination rates.
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