The incident occurred in 2021, per ABC, after a freezer containing 323 virus samples broke down. Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls announced Monday that his department launched a formal investigation into the matter. He reported that the security breach was not discovered until August 2023 and that he had to wait a year for his department to get federal approval to launch the inquiry.
“The investigation that I’ve asked the Director General to instigate is the next step in the process to finding out what happened there,” said Nicholls, per the Washington Examiner. “It’s important we understand what went wrong. It’s important that we understand how it can be done better.”
“The Department is taking all necessary steps to ensure that it does have the appropriate regulatory matters in place,” he continued. “It is liaising with federal record-keeping bodies and the federal accreditation bodies as well as with our own department of agriculture.”
All of the vials contained viruses with high fatality rates, with the majority of them containing lyssavirus which can cause rabies. The others contained Hendra virus and Hantavirus.
Nicholls emphasized that there has been "no evidence so far" of any public health threats over the 2021 incident. Additionally, Australian Chief Health Officer Dr. John Gerrard assured that "No Hendra or lyssavirus cases have been detected among humans in Queensland over the past five years, and there has been no report of hantavirus infections in humans ever in Australia."
Gerrard added that the virus samples would have rapidly degraded if not kept frozen, making them no longer contagious.
Former Supreme Court Justice Martin Daubney will lead the investigation which will look into the "management, administration, or delivery of public sector health services in the laboratory."
When asked about why the breach had taken so long to become public, Nicholls said that would be part of the investigation.
