Queensland COVID-19 research

This page of Queensland’s research related to the COVID-19 pandemic is compiled from information provided by Queensland universities and research institutes.

While many of our researchers are working on potential vaccines, treatments and other medical interventions, other researchers are applying their expertise to other impacts of the pandemic upon our economy and other aspects of society. The data includes immediate research activity, recent relevant work, proposed research (subject to available funds) and other responses using the resources and expertise of our research organisations.

Listing all of 20 matching responses out of 149 total responses.

  • A systematic review and meta-analysis comparing studies of seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections with cumulative and imputed COVID-19 cases October 2021

    The level of a pathogen in the blood serum across a human population is termed seroprevalence. Accurate background estimates of the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in different populations could clarify the extent to which current testing strategies are identifying all active infection, and hence the true magnitude and spread of the infection. This study, that examined over 2000 studies, has shown SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence is well below herd immunity in all countries studied. The estimated number of infections, however, were much greater than the number of reported cases and deaths in almost all locations. The majority of seropositive people reported prior COVID-like symptoms, suggesting that undertesting of symptomatic people may be causing a substantial under-ascertainment of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Systematic assessment of 17-country data shows SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence is mostly less than 10% - levels well below herd immunity. High symptom rates in seropositive cases suggest undertesting of symptomatic people and could explain gaps between seroprevalence rates and reported cases. The estimated number of infections for the majority of the studies ranged from 2-717 times greater than the number of reported cases in that region and up to 13 times greater than the cases imputed from the number of reported deaths.

    #Epidemiology#Systematic review#Meta-analysis

    Centre

    Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare
    Bond University

    Contact details
    Dr Oyungerel Byambasuren
    Postdoctoral Research Fellow
    obyambas@bond.edu.au
    +617 5595 5518
    Collaborations
  • A systematic review and meta-analysis that estimated the extent of asymptomatic COVID-19 and its potential for community transmission September 2021

    Knowing the prevalence of true asymptomatic coronavirus disease cases is critical for designing mitigation measures against the pandemic. This study aimed to synthesise all available research on asymptomatic cases and transmission rates. By screening over 2000 articles, the researchers found that their one-in-six estimate of the prevalence of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and asymptomatic transmission rates is lower than those of many highly publicized studies but still sufficient to warrant policy attention. Further robust epidemiological evidence is urgently needed, including in subpopulations such as children, to better understand how asymptomatic cases contribute to the pandemic.

    #Epidemiology#Systematic review#Meta-analysis

    Centre

    Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare
    Bond University

    Contact details
    Dr Oyungerel Byambasuren
    Postdoctoral Research Fellow
    obyambas@bond.edu.au
    +617 5595 5518
    Collaborations
  • Indoor precautions essential to stem airborne COVID-19 September 2021

    In April 2020, researchers from the QUT International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health (ILAQH) urged health authorities to immediately recognise the role of airborne transmission of COVID-19 virus droplets from an infected person beyond 1.5m in order to stem the disease’s spread. The key reasons are: Airborne transmission of COVID-19 must be taken into account; Likely COVID-19 spread to cruise ship passengers through ventilation system even when passengers confined to their cabins; Viable airborne viruses can travel beyond 1.5m on airflow when exhaled by an infected person; and Virus air transmission research must begin now not retrospectively. World-leading air quality and health expert QUT Dist Prof. Lidia Morawska and Prof. Junji Cao from Chinese Academy of Sciences in an article in Environment International called on health bodies to initiate research into the airborne transmission of COVID-19 as it is happening. Prof. Morawska, said “National health bodies responsible for controlling the pandemic are hampered by not acknowledging the research evidence of airborne transmission of viable virus droplets, that was conducted after the SARS 2003 outbreak” (April 2020). Prof. Morawska has also led a call by 239 scientists from 32 countries to recognise and mitigate airborne transmission of COVID-19. In Septemer 2021 Prof. Morawska was named by the Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

    #Epidemiology

    Centre

    International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health (ILAQH)
    Queensland University of Technology

    Contact details
    Prof Lidia Morawska
    Director
    l.morawska@qut.edu.au
    +61 7 3138 2616
    Collaborations
    Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Australian researchers trace sewage for early warning of COVID-19 spread September 2021

    Researchers from the University of Queensland and CSIRO have demonstrated the first step towards an early warning surveillance system to track the prevalence of COVID-19 in the community. The researchers have found RNA fragment of SARS-CoV2, the virus which leads to the disease COVID-19, in wastewater samples from two wastewater treatment plants in South East Queensland. The RNA fragments of SARS-CoV2 would have been shed in the wastewater stream by COVID-19 infected people. The research builds on techniques for testing wastewater for illicit drugs and other chemicals and prior on wastewater analysis for emerging recombinant noroviruses by researchers in the Netherlands and the United States of America.

    #Epidemiology

    Centre

    Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences
    The University of Queensland

    Contact details
    Prof Kevin Thomas
    Centre Director
    kevin.thomas@uq.edu.au
    +61 7 344 32443
    Collaborations
  • The National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce - Primary and Chronic Care Committee August 2021

    As clinicians work to provide the best possible care for Australians during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are working to keep them up-to-date with the latest evidence. Clinician researchers Prof Sarah Larkins, James Cook University and Dr Mark Morgan, Bond University co-chair the Taskforce Primary and Chronic Care Panel. This panel is synthesizing emerging evidence about best care for people with acute COVID-19 and longer term symptoms following COVID-19 infection. This is presented in clinical flowcharts and recommendations, to assist clinicians at the point of care.

    #Treatment#Epidemiology#Data science#Evidence based guidelines

    Centre

    Anton Breinl Research Centre for Health Systems Strengthening
    James Cook University

    Contact details
    Prof Sarah Larkins
    Director, Research Development, DTHM
    sarah.larkins@jcu.edu.au
    +614 0888 2639
    Collaborations
  • Change in outbreak epicentre and its impact on the importation risks of COVID-19 progression: A modelling study July 2021

    The outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) that was first detected in the city of Wuhan, China has now spread to every inhabitable continent, but now the attention has shifted from China to other epicentres. This study explored early assessment of the influence of spatial proximities and travel patterns from Italy on the further spread of SARS-CoV-2 worldwide. We showed that as the epicentre changes, the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 spread change to reflect spatial proximities.

    #Epidemiology

    Centre

    Public Health and Tropical Medicine - Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine
    James Cook University

    Contact details
    Dr Oyelola Adegboye
    Lecturer
    oyelola.adegboye@jcu.edu.au
    +61 7 4781 5707
    Collaborations
    • Co-researchers:
    • Dr Adeshina Adekunle, AITHM
    • Dr Anton Pak, AITHM
    • Ezra Gayawanc, University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria
    • Denis HY. Leung, Singapore Management University, Singapore
    • Dr Diana Rojas Alvarez, AITHM
    • Faiz Elfaki, University, Doha, Qatar
    • https://research.jcu.edu.au/portfolio/emma.mcbryde/"> Federal Prof Emma McBryde, AITHM
    • Dr Damon Eisen, AITHM
  • Loss of smell in COVID-19 May 2021

    Dr Daniel Hwang from the Diamantina Institute and Prof Eugeni Roura at the Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences and team of researchers from the University of Queensland, are part of the Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research, who are conducting world-wide scientific studies to assess the possible relationships between respiratory illness (e.g., COVID-19, influenza or the common cold) and their effects on smell & taste. They have collected data via online surveys from over 50 thousand individuals around the world.

    #Epidemiology

    Centre

    Diamantina Institute
    The University of Queensland

    Contact details
    Dr Daniel Hwang
    Postdoctoral Research Fellow
    d.hwang@uq.edu.au
    +617 3443 7976
    Collaborations
  • Flattening the curve is not enough, we need to squash it: An explainer using a simple model July 2021

    At the end of March 2020, COVID-19 had been diagnosed in over 4,000 Australians. Up until mid-March 2020, most were from international travel, however there then followed a rise in locally acquired cases. The Flattening the curve is not enough, we need to squash it: An explainer using a simple model study uses a simple transmission dynamic model to demonstrate the difference between moderate changes to the reproduction number and forcing the reproduction number below one. Lowering local transmission is becoming important in reducing the transmission of COVID-19 and to maintain control of the epidemic, the focus should be on those in the community who do not regard themselves as at risk. Researchers at JCU’s AITHM are writing important timely analyses of COVID-19, with an Australian perspective. The reports may be very valuable at time of publishing, but may have less value a month later, once peer review is completed. AITHM are therefore making all their preprint reports publically available.

    #Epidemiology

    Centre

    Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine
    James Cook University

    Contact details
    Prof Emma McBryde
    Prof of Infectious Diseases Modelling and Epidemiology
    emma.mcbryde@jcu.edu.au
    +61 7 478 16547
    Collaborations
    School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University
  • Modelling the impact of COVID-19 upon intensive care services in New South Wales July 2021

    In collaboration with A/Professor Gregory Fox, University of Sydney and Senior Research Fellow, Monash University, Professor Emma McBryde at JCU modelled the impact of COVID-19 upon intensive care services in New South Wales. The Australian healthcare system faces a mounting burden due to COVID-19. Modelling performed in a comparable population in the United Kingdom anticipates a substantial burden for intensive care departments. This analysis, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, uses two approaches to estimating intensive care unit (ICU) bed demands associated with COVID-19 in the context of local health districts in NSW. Researchers at AITHM are writing important timely analyses of COVID-19, with an Australian perspective. The reports may be very valuable at time of publishing, but may have less value a month later, once peer review is completed. AITHM are therefore making all their preprint reports publically available.

    #Epidemiology

    Centre

    Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine
    James Cook University

    Contact details
    Prof Emma McBryde
    Prof of Infectious Diseases Modelling and Epidemiology
    emma.mcbryde@jcu.edu.au
    +61 7 478 16547
    Collaborations
    • The University of Sydney - Central Clinical School
    • Monash University - School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine
  • The value of early transmission dynamic studies in emerging infectious diseases July 2021

    In this timely article published in the Lancet, Professor Emma McBryde from AITHM explained the importance of early transmission dynamic studies in emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19, at the point when the world was braced for a public health emergency of international. Person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, started in December, 2019, in Wuhan, China and quickly spread to become a global pandemic. Modelling studies aided understanding of COVID-19 dynamics from the first announcement of the epidemic and publication of the genetic sequence of the causative virus. Initial phylogenetic analysis of closely related viruses suggested highly linked person-to-person spread of SARS-CoV-2 originating from mid-November to early December, 2019. Following this, modellers provided simple calculations that identified a mismatch between reported cases in China and reported importations of cases from travellers. Based on travel volumes, modellers inferred that cases in Wuhan were underestimated by a factor of 40—a crucially important finding.

    Researchers at AITHM are writing important timely analyses of COVID-19, with an Australian perspective. The reports may be very valuable at time of publishing, but may have less value a month later, once peer review is completed. AITHM are therefore making all their preprint reports publically available.

    #Epidemiology

    Centre

    Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine
    James Cook University

    Contact details
    Prof Emma McBryde
    Prof of Infectious Diseases Modelling and Epidemiology
    emma.mcbryde@jcu.edu.au
    +61 7 478 16547
  • Does high public trust amplify compliance with stringent COVID-19 government health guidelines? A multi-country analysis using data from 102,627 individuals January 2021

    The purpose of this research was to examine how public trust mediates the people’s adherence to levels of stringent government health policies and to establish if these effects vary across the political regimes. The study used data from two large-scale surveys: the global behaviors and perceptions at the onset of COVID-19 pandemic and the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT). Linear regression models were used to estimate the effects of public trust and strictness of restriction measures on people’s compliance level. The model accounted for individual and daily variations in country-level stringency of preventative measures. Differences in the dynamics between public trust, the stringent level of government health guidelines and policy compliance were also examined among countries based on political regimes. The study found strong evidence of the increase in compliance due to the imposition of stricter government restrictions. The examination of heterogeneous effects suggests that high public trust in government and the perception of its truthfulness double the impact of policy restrictions on public compliance. Among political regimes, higher levels of public trust significantly increase the predicted compliance as stringency level rises in authoritarian and democratic countries. This study highlights the importance of public trust in government and its institutions during public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The results are relevant and help understand why governments need to address the risks of non-compliance among low trusting individuals to achieve the success of the containment policies.

    #Business and economics#Social sciences#Epidemiology

    Centre

    Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine
    James Cook University

    Contact details
    Dr Anton Pak
    Research Fellow
    anton.pak@jcu.edu.au
    +617 4781 5834
    Collaborations
    • Collaborators:
    • Prof Emma S McBryde Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University
    • Dr Oyelola A Adegboye College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University
  • Novel virus trap nanotechnology for COVID-19 detection May 2021

    A highly innovative virus trapping nanotechnology will be developed in this Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship project led by Dr Christopher Howard from the UQ Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology to enable rapid population-based screening of COVID-19 and other viral threats. The virus trap technology is cheap, easy-to-use, temperature stable, provides immediate results, is scalable for mass manufacture and will for the first time allow high throughput virus diagnostics for rapid screening during viral pandemics.

    #Epidemiology

    Centre

    Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology
    The University of Queensland

    Contact details
    Dr Christopher Howard
    Senior Research Fellow
    c.howard2@uq.edu.au
    +61 7 334 64270
    Collaborations
    Xing Technologies
  • Economic consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak: the need for epidemic preparedness May 2020

    COVID-19 is not only a global pandemic and public health crisis; it has also severely affected the global economy and financial markets. Significant reductions in income, a rise in unemployment, and disruptions in the transportation, service, and manufacturing industries are among the consequences of the disease mitigation measures that have been implemented in many countries. It has become clear that most governments in the world underestimated the risks of rapid COVID-19 spread and were mostly reactive in their crisis response. As disease outbreaks are not likely to disappear in the near future, proactive international actions are required to not only save lives but also protect economic prosperity. Read the full article Public Health Policy - Frontiers in Public Health. As the disease outbreaks are not likely to disappear in the near future, proactive international actions are required to not only save lives but also protect economic prosperity. Researchers at AITHM, JCU are writing important timely analyses of COVID-19, with an Australian perspective. The reports may be very valuable at time of publishing, but may have less value a month later, once peer review is completed. AITHM are therefore making all their preprint reports publically available.

    #Business and economics#Social sciences#Epidemiology

    Centre

    Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine
    James Cook University

    Contact details
    Dr Anton Pak
    Research Fellow
    anton.pak@jcu.edu.au
    +61 7 478 15834
    Collaborations
  • Researchers warn about the potential increase in COVID-19 cases and remind Nigerians to practice “physical” distancing April 2021

    Following analysis of the cumulative number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the first day of importation to selected African countries and the worse affected countries outside Africa, researchers from AITHM at JCU and the Federal University of Technology, Nigeria have warned that Nigerians should practice “physical” distancing. They warned that it is important to understand that the travel ban imposed by the Federal Government has prevented or reduced future importations according to their simulation study which found that the effects of the international travel ban imposed by the Australia Government resulted in an 80% reduction in COVID-19 importations. Researchers at AITHM are writing important timely analyses of COVID-19, with an Australian perspective. The reports may be very valuable at time of publishing, but may have less value a month later, once peer review is completed. AITHM are therefore making all their preprint reports publically available.

    #Epidemiology

    Centre

    Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine
    James Cook University

    Contact details
    Dr Oyelola Adegboye
    Research Fellow
    oyelola.adegboye@jcu.edu.au
    +61 7 478 15707
    Collaborations
    Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria
  • Delaying the COVID-19 epidemic in Australia: Evaluating the effectiveness of international travel bans April 2021

    Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China late 2019, different countries have put in place interventions such as travel ban, proper hygiene, and social distancing to slow the spread of this novel virus. Researchers from AITHM at JCU, in collaboration with Victoria University and Monash University, evaluated the effects of travel bans in the Australia context and projected the epidemic until May 2020. The modelling results closely align with observed cases in Australia indicating the need for maintaining or improving on the control measures to slow down the virus. Researchers at AITHM are writing important timely analyses of COVID-19, with an Australian perspective. The reports may be very valuable at time of publishing, but may have less value a month later, once peer review is completed. AITHM are therefore making all their preprint reports publicly available.

    #Epidemiology

    Centre

    Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine
    James Cook University

    Contact details
    Dr Adeshina Adekunle
    Research Fellow, Infectious Diseases Modeller
    adeshina.adekunle@jcu.edu.au
    +61 7 478 16659
    Collaborations
    Monash University
  • Safely relaxing social distancing comes down to the numbers May 2021

    Your house number could be the key to the safe relaxation of COVID-19-related restrictions if governments follow a new exit strategy proposal published in the British Medical Journal. Co-authored by Professor Adrian Barnett, a statistician with QUT’s School of Public Health and Social Work, An exit strategy for relaxing physical distancing measures to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 suggests governments around the globe use an ‘odds-and-evens’ approach to allowing people to head back to work and enjoy other activities after weeks of lockdown. “Governments in Australia and elsewhere are seeking to balance competing priorities. Social distancing has certainly been proven to reduce the rate of transmission of COVID-19 but has had a negative impact on the economy and created other health issues,” said Professor Barnett. “A major problem with relaxing restrictions too quickly is the limited evidence on how this will affect transmission of the virus and no-one wants to see another wave of infection and deaths which would lead to a return to lockdown. “We propose an interim solution in which allowing people to return to a less-restricted life should be based on odd or even house numbers. For example, people in odd numbered houses have relaxed restrictions on odd days in the month (1st, 3rd, etc) and people in even number houses on even days (2nd, 4th, etc). “This halves the population mixing, which reduces the risk of a new wave occurring, and it creates useful data for judging whether restrictions can be further relaxed or should be tightened.”

    #Epidemiology

    Centre

    Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation
    Queensland University of Technology

    Contact details
    Prof Adrian Barnett
    Senior Research Fellow
    a.barnett@qut.edu.au
    +61 7 3138 6010
    Collaborations
    • University of Melbourne
    • University of Oxford
  • CQU part of national APPRISE COVID-19 research project on the challenges present by the pandemic for First Nations people. March 2020

    First Nations people will face some unique challenges with COVID-19, including risks for infection, availability of preparedness plans, applicability of quarantine and isolation and risks of severe disease given the high prevalence of cardiovascular disease and hypertension in First Nations people. Professor Adrian Miller from CQU is one of the Indigenous researchers in the Australian Partnership for Preparedness Research on Infectious Disease Emergencies (APPRISE) COVID-19 team. APPRISE is a national network of leading experts, institutions and researchers involved in clinical, laboratory, public health, and ethics research. Its mission is to inform Australia’s emergency response to infectious diseases.

    #Epidemiology

    Centre

    Centre for Indigenous Health Equity Research
    CQUniversity

    Contact details
    Prof Adrian Miller
    Pro Vice Chancellor Indigenous Engagement
    a.miller@cqu.edu.au
    (07) 4726 5382
    Collaborations
    • Lead organisation - Doherty Institute
    • Funder - Paul Ramsay Foundation
  • Environmental Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 using microbial source tracking May 2020

    The GU Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre is providing environmental surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 sequences in watersheds and sewage samples. The laboratory receives regular/routine water and wastewater samples from water utilities across Australia and NZ. Using the RNA sequences for SARS-CoV-2, the researchers apply microbial source tracking (MST) techniques to monitor for the sources of the virus in water sources and wastewater treatment systems.

    #Epidemiology

    Centre

    Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre
    Griffith University

    Contact details
    A/Prof Helen Stratton
    Discipline Head, Bioscience
    h.stratton@griffith.edu.au
    +61 (0)7 3735 5503
    Collaborations
    • Water Research Australia - ColoSSoS project
    • Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences
  • Developing a highly sensitive biosensor for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in sewage May 2020

    Dr Ido Bar, a researcher at GU’s Environmental Futures Research Institute, is proposing, subject to funding, to develop a highly sensitive biosensor for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in sewage.

    #Epidemiology

    Centre

    Environmental Futures Research Institute
    Griffith University

    Contact details
    Dr Ido Bar
    i.bar@griffith.edu.au
    +61 (0)7 3735 7292
  • Estimating the case detection rate and temporal variation in transmission of COVID-19 in Australia April 2020

    Working with researchers from the Peter Doherty Institute, the University of Melbourne and Curtin University, AITHM have been estimating the case detection rate and temporal variation in transmission of COVID-19 in Australia.

    Researchers at AITHM are writing important timely analyses of COVID-19, with an Australian perspective. These reports may be very valuable at time of publishing, but may have less value a month later, once peer review is completed. AITHM are therefore making all their preprint reports publically available.

    #Epidemiology

    Centre

    Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine
    James Cook University

    Contact details
    Dr Michael Meehan
    Research Fellow
    michael.meehan1@jcu.edu.au
    +61 7 478 14573
    Collaborations
    • The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
    • The Universityof Melbourne
    • Curtin University

Other Queensland COVID-19 initiatives

Queensland Government
Coronavirus (COVID-19) business assistance finder
Life Sciences Queensland
Life Sciences Queensland joins the data-powered alliance to stop COVID-19

Key Australian COVID-19 initiatives

Australian Academy of Science
Rapid Research Information Forum (RRIF)
COVID-19 Expert Database

Key international COVID-19 initiatives

CORD-19 (COVID-19 Open Research Dataset)
Free database of 130,000 plus COVID-19 open research papers