Lockdown measures have been in place since mid March and while some seem unnecessarily harsh, especially in our remote community, they have helped flatten the curve considerably to easily manageable proportions.

This is in stark contrast to places like the United States, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain which must deal with appalling numbers of cases clogging their hospital intensive care units and a high number of deaths.

It's something our medical experts and our national cabinet can take justifiable pride in getting to this point but we must heed their warnings not to get complacent.

While it is understandable for people to want to get back to normal as quickly as possible, the health consequences of getting it wrong are horrendous.

There remains no vaccines or treatments and we are also still vulnerable to catching the virus.

Queensland is still getting ten or so cases every day which is a manageable number and allows for good tracing.

Sadly some have died including at least 11 from the ill-fated Ruby Princess cruise ship, which remains the single largest cause of infections and a calamity we need to get to the bottom of so that its disaster is never repeated.

Thankfully we remain COVID-19 free in the western part of the state but it could easily come here via a fly in fly out worker in the mines or in a government position.

The goal will be to get the state down to zero and then make sure our borders are protected.

If this succeeds we can gradually link up with other COVID-19 free territories and jurisdictions and extend the areas and activities we can do.

But we must remain vigilant in the days and months that follow.

Yes it is annoying that national parks and lakes are closed, yes it is annoying we cannot travel for pleasure and we cannot visit friends and relatives.

These inconveniences will eventually pass but for now we must remain strong and disciplined.