A venomous visitor interrupted Queensland health minister’s press conference on Thursday as she gave a coronavirus news briefing. 

Yvette D’Ath was speaking about pandemic restrictions and the vaccine mandate when she realised a large huntsman spider was crawling up her leg. 

She worked hard to maintain her cool as the spider, which can grow up to 15cm, climbed, saying: “Can someone please get that spider off?”

She joked: “This shows how controlled I can be, I’m going to keep going and pretend I don’t have a huntsman on me right now and let someone else manage. 

“But if it gets anywhere near my face, please let me know.”

The spiders are not lethal to humans but can deliver a painful bite. 

Both Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard and interpreter Mike Webb headed to the podium to shoo the spider away. 

When it had moved on, Ms D’Ath resumed the conference. “Well, that was a moment, wasn’t it? We’ve got Covid and we’ve got huntsmans,” she said.

Afterwards she posted on Twitter: “Update – no spiders were harmed during the press conference.”

Queensland reported 31 new coronavirus cases on Saturday and has recorded five Omicron cases to date.

The state introduced a mask mandate on Saturday, which will require mask wearing at indoor retail and on public transport. 

“We don’t yet know enough about omicron, and it’s prudent to take sensible measures to slow the spread of this variant of the virus,” said Ms D’Ath.

Australia reported record high new Covid-19 cases on Saturday for a third day, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison has continued to downplay the risks as the country eases pandemic curbs.