Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced the state will block all interstate arrivals from hotspot areas for the next two weeks.
The pause will be in effect from midday today.
It comes as Queensland’s hotel quarantine facilities are “scrambling” to handle an increasing number of arrivals.
The Premier said southern outbreaks have resulted in too much pressure on the state’s quarantine hotels.
“It’s putting our workers at risk and it’s also putting our community at risk,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“Not only are our hotels stretched, our staff are stretched.
As of yesterday, 5,114 people were isolating in Queensland’s 22 quarantine hotels – 3,257 from interstate and 1,857 from overseas.
The pause will allow quarantining authorities to manage those with a travel exemption for compassionate or medical reasons, as they’ll still be allowed to enter the state.
Some hotels will also host Afghanistan evacuees.
People travelling into Queensland, including Queensland residents, will now need to reapply for a border pass and will need to book into a quarantine hotel before arriving.
Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Yvette D’Ath said about 85 per cent of domestic arrivals in the last two weeks were relocating to Queensland.
"The pressures on hotel quarantine are simply unsustainable,” she said.
“We never know how many domestic arrivals we have from day to day.
“Anyone who’s not already on a flight at midday will not be able to arrive simply on a right of entry pass.
“Over the next fortnight we will issue passes but we will allocate a time period that people will be able to arrive in Queensland.
“This will help us manage room capacity much better by knowing how many people are arriving and when, so we can make sure there’s a room allocated to them.”
Queensland has recorded no new COVID-19 cases today, while the two truck drivers thought to have the virus yesterday have been reclassified.
They are no longer considered positive cases after further testing.
There are 37 active cases across the state.
