Summary
- Perth and two WA regions have been placed in a five-day lockdown after a hotel quarantine security guard tested positive to COVID-19. Sixty close contacts of the security guard have been identified so far. The lockdown sparked panic buying in Perth yesterday with people lining up outside pharmacies and supermarkets.
- Anyone who has been in Perth’s metropolitan area, the Peel region and the South West region of WA is not able to enter Victoria or Tasmania without an exemption. Queensland and the Northern Territory will require anyone who arrives from the WA hotspots to undergo 14 days’ quarantine. NSW is asking WA travellers to isolate and get tested.
- Work is under way to remove blockades at the Queensland/NSW border. Greater Sydney is no longer declared a hotspot and millions of residents across 35 local government areas will be able to enter Queensland from today without undergoing mandatory hotel quarantine. Anyone from NSW who is in hotel quarantine already will be released today.
- Victoria has reached 26 days without a case of community transmission, while NSW has reported its 15th day without a local case and Queensland has clocked up its 21st consecutive day of no locally acquired cases.
- Captain Sir Tom Moore, the 100-year-old World War II veteran who united Britain during the dark early days of the coronavirus pandemic, has been admitted to hospital with COVID-19.
Watch live: Northern Territory Chief Minister addresses the media
The NT’s Chief Minister, Michael Gunner, is due to hold a press conference about the territory’s restrictions on travellers from Western Australia hotspots at 11.30am AEDT.
You can watch his press conference live, below:
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Handing over
That’s all from me today. My colleague Franziska Rimrod in Perth will take the reins of the blog now and bring you the latest news from the locked-down hotspots in WA, as well as key developments from around the country.
‘We won’t be closing our borders’: NSW Premier
By Natassia Chrysanthos
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has confirmed her state’s borders will stay open to Western Australia, as parts of the state enter a five-day lockdown.
“Our health officials are always on alert to deal with these situations,” she said.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says her state is not in the habit of closing its borders.Credit:AFR
“NSW has a standing policy of keeping our borders open, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”
She said NSW Health has been contacting people who had recently come into the state from WA and notifying them of health protocols.
The health authority is also screening new arrivals from WA as they enter NSW.
“We have a policy in NSW where we act quickly and swiftly ... Our health authorities swung into action as soon as we heard about it,” she said.
Ms Berejiklian said the situation was so far similar to what happened in Brisbane and New Zealand in recent weeks, and that she had faith in NSW Health’s capacity to respond.
“[It’s a] proportionate response,” she said.
“At this stage, we don’t know of any community transmission in WA aside from the security guard, and we’re acting proportionately to that risk.”
Ms Berejiklian did not comment on the leadership or decisions of WA Premier Mark McGowan.
“I think all of us have to be considerate. It’s difficult when communities have to go through lockdown and our thoughts are with everyone in WA at the moment.”
Six new cases in NSW hotel quarantine, zero community transmission
By Natassia Chrysanthos
NSW has recorded another day without locally transmitted cases of COVID-19. It marks 15 days without a new case in the community.
But six cases were detected in hotel quarantine, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 4921.
NSW Health is concerned that only 6023 coronavirus tests were carried out yesterday.
“NSW Health continues to be concerned by low rates of testing,” the health authority said in a statement.
“We urge people across the state to come forward for testing with the mildest of symptoms. High testing rates are necessary to give confidence that no cases are going undetected in the community.”
A new public health order requires anyone arriving in NSW from areas of Western Australia now in lockdown to follow “stay at home” rules.
“This case is a timely reminder that COVID-19 can emerge at any time. Everyone who gets tested is playing an important role in helping to contain the spread of the virus.”
60 close contacts identified for infected WA security guard, extra exposure site
By Heather McNeill
The Perth security guard who tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday has around 60 close contacts, authorities have revealed.
WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson told Perth Radio 6PR on Monday morning the close contacts identified so far were isolating in their homes as tracing of the man’s movements continued.
It’s estimated the security guard was in the community for two to three days while he was infectious between Thursday and Saturday.
WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson.Credit:Nine News Perth
“The next couple of days are going to be quite critical because there’s been 60 identified contacts from this one individual,” Mr Dawson said.
“They’re being asked to stay where they are, we don’t want them wandering around the community.
“We know that this fellow [the security guard] lives with three other men, they’ve all tested negative, but they may well still be incubating [the virus].
“The good thing is they’re not infectious at the moment, so his three flatmates cannot pass it on, so that’s a good thing.
“But when this particular case has been in the community, he has been infectious, that’s what we’re concerned about.”
A new public location has been added to the list of places visited by the man while he was infectious – Grab ‘n’ Go convenience store at Perth Arena.
No new cases in Queensland
By Lydia Lynch
Queensland has recorded zero cases of COVID-19 on Monday, as the state welcomes Sydneysiders back across the border for the first time since before Christmas.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has also confirmed, via Twitter, that no new cases have been detected in hotel quarantine in the past 24 hours.
It’s now been 21 days since Queensland recorded a case of community transmission.
The state’s active cases remain at six.
On Sunday, 3759 tests were carried out.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath is expected to hold a press conference in Brisbane in the next half hour.
Watch live: NSW Premier addresses the media
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Education Minister Sarah Mitchell are due to make a school infrastructure announcement at 11am AEDT.
Ms Berejiklian will also be questioned about the state’s COVID-19 cases, the Queensland border and the advice to travellers from WA hotspots. You can watch their press conference live, below:
How Perth residents are adjusting to lockdown life
More than 80 per cent of Perth’s population is in lockdown this morning, after enjoying 10 months without a case of community transmission.
These residents appear to be adjusting well to #lockdownlife so far ...
AFLW season in turmoil as teams thrown into isolation
By Daniel Cherny and Sam McClure
The COVID infection in a Perth hotel quarantine security guard has also affected the AFWL season.
Ticket sales for round two have been put on hold after players and staff from both Adelaide and Greater Western Sydney began two weeks of isolation in Adelaide after arriving back from Perth on Sunday night.
Giants players leave the field after losing to Fremantle on Sunday.Credit:Getty
Both the Crows and Giants played matches in Western Australia on the weekend in round one and flew back together on Sunday night just before WA entered its five-day lockdown following the positive coronavirus case in the state.
While Adelaide and GWS players managed to flee WA, they have been forced into mandatory self-quarantine in accordance with South Australian government guidelines for those returning from WA.
This includes Crows AFL star Tom Lynch, who is an assistant coach with the women’s team and also travelled to Perth.
Both clubs have been contacted for comment.
The Crows and Giants were both set to play in Adelaide this weekend, against West Coast and Fremantle respectively. But even leaving the isolation situation to one side, there are serious doubts as to whether the Eagles and Dockers would be able to travel to South Australia for the games.
The Giants had already been in South Australia after leaving Sydney a month ago in the wake of Sydney’s COVID-19 outbreak.
First day of ‘drastic and immediate’ lockdown as WA aims to crush COVID-19 in its tracks
By Heather McNeill
If you’re just joining us, Perth has woken to its first day of full lockdown after being one of the few jurisdictions in the world to have avoided the harsh pandemic measure for more than a year.
Premier Mark McGowan announced the stay-at-home order on Sunday in response to a security guard at a Perth quarantine hotel testing positive for what is suspected to be the highly infectious UK strain of coronavirus.
The ‘dramatic and immediate’ shutdown meant the first day of school for thousands of children on Monday was put on hold and the daily work commute reduced to a trickle of cars along the city’s usual bustling freeway.
The Perth Scorchers’ knockout match, scheduled to take place on Thursday in front of a crowd of 30,000-plus at Optus Stadium, will now be played in Canberra. Fringe Festival has cancelled shows for the week and the coming Perth Festival has been thrown into doubt.
Previously, WA’s harshest lockdown rules — in place for much of April 2020 — restricted gatherings to limits of two and encouraged people to stay home where possible.
The new five-day lockdown, which expires at 6pm Friday, requires people in the Perth, Peel and South West regions to stay home with the exception of four reasons – work if you cannot work from home; essential shopping; medical appointments; and exercise for one hour a day in your neighbourhood with a maximum of one other person.
Anyone venturing outside during the lockdown will be required to wear a mask – marking the first time since the pandemic emerged that Western Australians have been ordered to do so.
By comparison, masks were mandatory in Melbourne at all times outside the home for more than three months to November, while in the UK, face masks have been required in indoor public places and on public transport since July as the country struggles through its third major lockdown.
Premier Mark McGowan said the sudden WA lockdown — impacting 80 per cent of the state’s population — followed more than 10 months without a case of COVID-19 in the community.
“Our model is to deal with it very, very quickly and very, very harshly so that we can bring it under control and not have community spread of the virus as you’ve seen in other parts of the world,” he said.
From face masks to checkpoints: Everything you need to know about WA’s lockdown
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2021-02-01 00:12:00Z
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