Residents in Cairns have come out in their thousands to get tested, after news of a positive COVID-19 case broke yesterday.

The positive case is a reef pilot who recently returned to the northern beaches from Brisbane.

He has the Delta variant, but it’s not yet been linked to the current outbreak in the south-east.

Advance Cairns CEO Paul Sparshott told Scott Emerson it’s shaken locals.

“I think it is a big shock and that’s evident by the number of people lined up to get tested.

“I think people are a bit anxious.”

He said it was a bit of a “wake-up call”.

There were big lines at testing queues today.

He said things were looking quite dire for tourism operators.

“I’ve just heard from our tourism bosses we are 80 per cent down on arrivals and it’s costing us $8.5 million a day.”

Press PLAY below to hear more about how the community is responding