Australia's Queensland warns of more COVID-19 cases, Easter travel plans on hold

SYDNEY: Australia's Queensland state warned on Tuesday that more cases of COVID-19 were expected to emerge as authorities scrambled to contain an outbreak linked to the virulent UK variant, throwing Easter travel plans into disarray.

Officials reported eight new locally acquired cases on Tuesday, taking the total in the latest outbreak to 15 so far. All of the cases were linked to two distinct virus clusters, one related to a doctor and the second to a nurse, authorities said. "The fact that we have these cases that are linked is good news," Queensland state Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters. "Do we expect to see more cases? Probably. Probably, we will see more."