An irritated Annastacia Palaszczuk has shut down a reporter after the Queenslander Premier was asked whether she had regrets about re-opening the state's border during the Omicron outbreak.
Ms Palaszczuk was giving the Queensland Covid update at a warehouse at Inala, south-west of Brisbane, when the testy exchange occurred.
'Most of the 85 people who have died from Covid since the border opened hadn't had a booster shot - do you have any regrets about deciding to open the border when you knew Omicron was there...' the reporter asked.
Ms Palaszczuk snippily replied: 'You were screaming at me to open the border, I find it a bit ironic you would ask me that question now.
'Do you have any regrets?' the reporter persisted.
'No I don't, the Federal government had all the information about the Omicron variant and they said it was safe to do so,' the premier replied.
'Now what I'm concerned about, is I want our children to get vaccinated, and I want the booster shots done.'
The exchange with the reporter came as Ms Palaszczuk announced a drop in Covid cases to 16,031 new infections in the state but with 13 deaths on Friday, as changes to eligibility for booster shots were confirmed.
Ms Palaszczuk said from next Monday, Queenslanders will be able to come forward for booster jabs three months after a second shot of a Covid vaccine, rather than four months.
She said 91.76 per cent of Queenslanders had now received a first dose of vaccine and 89 per cent were now double dosed.
Ms Palaszczuk said Queenslander's QR code check-in system would not be dropped, despite calls from local mayors for it to be retired.
'We are going through a wave at the moment, it will peak in the next two weeks, and I need people to continue to check in,' she said.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said from next Monday, Queenslanders will be able to come forward for booster jabs three months after a second shot of a Covid vaccine, rather than four months
Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard said of the 13 deaths, two people were in their 60s, five were in the 70s, five in their 80s, and one in their 90s.
One person was unvaccinated, one had received a single dose of vaccine, eight had received two doses and one had received three jabs.
'Were it not for widescale vaccination in Queensland today, we would not be talking about 855 people in hospital, we would be talking about thousands of people in hospital and almost certainly, our hospital system would be overwhelmed by now,' Dr Gerrard said.
He said 855 people were currently in hospital with Covid, up from 805 yesterday, with 54 people in ICU. and 22 on ventilation.
Ms Palaszczuk said the state had increased its order of rapid antigen tests from 18 million units to 23 million units.
She said one million RATs had just arrived in the state and two million
