With Perth and Peel regions of WA in a snap lockdown since last Friday, WA Premier Mark McGowan has taken the opportunity to blast the Federal Government for allowing exemptions for international travel. He says returning travellers are bringing virulent COVID cases to Australia, telling a press conference yesterday that the pandemic “will not be going away this year”.
The Premier announced last night that Western Australia will cut its cap on international arrivals by half for a month from Thursday 29 April 2021, and stressed the need to “slow the flow” of returning travellers into the state.
McGowan’s spray comes as an increasing number of transmissions around Australia are being attributed to hotel quarantine transmissions, specifically from returning travellers from India, which is currently recording unprecedented levels of COVID-19 infections and, sadly, deaths.
Today, WA health minister, Roger Cook, will decide whether or not the three-day lockdown affecting Perth and Peel regions will be extended and what restrictions will be put in place ongoing for the state. On Sunday WA recorded no locally transmitted cases.
Premier McGowan said more people need to turn up for testing and that it is too early to predict what will happen on Tuesday when the lockdown is due to end.
“If you’ve been to an exposure location that the WA Health Department deems higher risk, you must get tested and complete 14 days of self-quarantine — regardless of your result,” McGowan said.
“I’m sure there’ll be some further measures that continue. What they are, we won’t know until [Monday] morning.
“We’ll get health advice tomorrow morning, but I think people should get used to the prospect that there’ll be some further measures that are continued beyond Monday.”
IMAGE: Perth – via westernaustralia.com
