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.
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Queensland hotel quarantine report due this week
By Lydia Lynch
A report into Brisbane’s hotel quarantine outbreak in January, which triggered a snap three day lockdown and a national health emergency, is expected to be released this week.
Police and health officials have been investigating how a super contagious strain of the virus spread from level 7 of the Hotel Grand Chancellor last month and infected six people.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said she was due to receive the report this week and she “hopes to be able to release the findings of that report this week”.
“I have been given some of the information but I would really rather comment when I have all of the information in front of me,” she said.
Hundreds of hotel guests and staff have been interviewed as part of the investigation which comes as Western Australia grapples with its own quarantine outbreak.
WA MPs allowed in parliament, forced to wear masks
By Rob Harris
Western Australian MPs will be allowed to attend parliament in Canberra this week under strict provisions following a new case of community transmission in Perth at the weekend.
Politicians who were forced into isolation on Sunday night have been told they will be issued essential workers permits once they received a negative COVID-19 test result.
Attorney-General Christian Porter feared he would have to spend parliament sitting in isolation.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Authorities scrambled on Sunday to meet a flight from Perth to Canberra carrying federal politicians who were ordered to self-isolate after a sudden lockdown in parts of Western Australia.
In an email to members and senators on Monday morning, health authorities reinforced that anyone who had been in the Perth metropolitan area, or the Peel and South West Regions since January 25 must immediately self-quarantine until at least February 5 and seek testing for COVID-19.
“The ACT Chief Health Officer will consider exemptions from the mandatory quarantine requirements for Members of Parliament and Senators only.
“Members of Parliament and Senators will be required to comply with a series of core principles which are based on those that are applied to all other essential workers exempted to enter the ACT.
MPs will be asked to wear face masks at all times and minimise their time outside their personal offices unless they are entering the chamber.
They have been also warned against attending shops and restaurants while in Canberra and to keep travel to private vehicles.
Any staff members who travelled to Canberra from Perth will not be granted an exemption.
Attorney General Christian Porter told Sydney radio 2GB earlier this morning he feared that he and the other WA MP’s would have to spend the parliament sitting in isolation.
“I think ACT are making a decision this morning. So we’ll sort of await further instructions, they may be granting exemptions for Parliament House, I don’t know,” he said.
“WA is into five days lock down and we were on a plane last night, and I think they had a good debate as to whether or not to turn the plane around, actually, but that didn’t happen and we landed. So the rules are the rules and we’ll abide by them.
Perth’s COVID clinics inundated with people queuing for tests
West Australians planning to get tested for COVID-19 today are being warned to expect long lines and delays at clinics as temperatures soar to 38 degrees.
Within hours of the state government announcing its snap, five-day lockdown on Sunday, Perth COVID clinics were inundated with people queuing to get tested.
The line at Midland Hospital, in Perth’s east, snaked along the footpath for hundreds of metres, with several people in the queue requiring urgent medical assistance from the already at-capacity hospital.
Concerns over WA’s surge testing capabilities were previously raised in December after clinics struggled to test 5,000 arrivals from New South Wales within the 24-hour deadline. Monday will be the system’s biggest test yet with Premier Mark McGowan warning people to expect delays.
“The hours that the COVID clinics are operating are long, but I’d be prepared that there may be a wait - take a hat, take sunscreen, take water,” he said.
Northern Territory Chief Minister addresses the media
We apologise, we weren’t able to bring you NT’s Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s press conference live due to technical difficulties.
He spoke about the territory’s restrictions on travellers from Western Australia hotspots at 11.30am AEDT.
You can watch his press conference below:
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 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.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says her state is not in the habit of closing its borders.Credit:AFR
“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.
NSW Premier addresses the media
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Education Minister Sarah Mitchell made 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 below:
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2021-02-01 00:49:00Z
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