WA has recorded a third consecutive day of zero locally-acquired cases, Mark McGowan announced on Wednesday.
The Premier said this was a “very encouraging result” given the record number of tests conducted during the first two days of the lockdown, but WA was “not out of the woods yet”.
If the streak of no local cases continues until Friday, then the full lockdown would end as planned at 6pm that evening, he said.
WATCH THE PREMIER’S ANNOUNCEMENT IN THE PLAYER ABOVE
However, some form of restrictions would continue “for a week or so”, without specifying what the rules would be.
“We know this virus can linger, so even though we could potentially have no community transmission come Friday, it does not mean we are 100 per cent in the clear,” he said.
“I want to get back to normal as quickly as possible, but we need to see at least 14 days of no community transmission before we can return to our unique life here in Perth and the South West.”
Contact tracers have identified 189 close contacts of the hotel quarantine guard infected with the UK strain of COVID-19.
So far, 138 of these close contacts have returned negative test results. A further 234 casual contacts have also been identified and 116 have tested negative.
The guard’s three housemates have been re-tested and those results were pending.
The 54 guests at the Four Points by Sheraton who were due for release have all tested negative. They will now be released from quarantine.
WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said the infected guard, an Edith Cowan University student originally from Bangladesh, was being “very co-operative” with the police investigation.
Mr Dawson said there was no information provided by the guard, known as case 903, about his movements that officers had been unable to corroborate.
The State’s top cop also revealed new details on how authorities believe the young Maylands man became infected.
He was deployed to the Four Points by Sheraton as a “static guard” and was tasked with sitting in a chair near a stairwell, two door away from the room of a guest infected with COVID-19.
Health Minister Roger Cook said the guard was not required to wear a face mask at work, as that was the policy of the Health Department at the time.
There was no evidence that the guard breached any protocols and the “working hypothesis” was that the infected guest somehow transmitted the virus the guard.
Mr Cook corrected information given on Tuesday that the guard had delivered medication to the guest’s door on January 24.
The guest was visited seven times on that day, but only by “authorised personnel” to drop off medication or meals.
WA’s director of communicable disease control Paul Armstrong said authorities don’t know if the UK strain was able to be transmitted by air, “but we just have to be open to all options”.
Dr Armstrong said it may have been the case that the air flow and ventilation on that floor, and with the guest’s door opened several times, there was a “chance event” that infected the guard.
He defended the Health Department’s decision not to require guards to wear masks earlier, given it was known the UK strain was up to 70 per cent more transmissible and the outbreak in Brisbane last month.
Dr Armstrong said wearing a mask for 12 hours while sitting in a chair was an “uncomfortable situation”. “It’s very sweaty, it’s hot and the more you have it on, the more irritated you get and the more chance you have of touching your mask,” he said.
“On balance, our policy position was that masks weren’t necessary because the risk of infection was considered to be negligible verses the downsides of wearing masks. Now we’ve switched the position.”
The Premier said he only learned “the other day” that guards weren’t required to masks, as he apologised for ordering West Australians to stay-at-home this week.
“Well obviously I’m very sorry about what’s occurred, I’m not afraid to apologise. I’m very sorry about what’s occurred. This has been debilitating for many people,” Mr McGowan said.
“Obviously we went 10 months without a single case and everyone in WA, I think, was very happy about that. This has been a shock to all of us.”
Earlier, WA Liberal leader Zak Kirkup called on the Government to immediately order all hotel quarantine workers to wear masks at all times.
It emerged on Tuesday that guards were not required to always wear a mask at work, even when on the same floor as a COVID infected guest.
Guards started constantly wearing masks when the five-day lockdown began on Monday, but only because anyone at work in Perth must cover their face.
“The failure for the Government to implement that policy to make sure hotel quarantine workers wore masks means that now we’re all wearing masks throughout this five-day lockdown,” Mr Kirkup said.
The Opposition leader said the WA Government had the longest of anywhere in the nation to prepare the State to respond to a COVID-19 outbreak, but appeared to have become “complacent”.
“The reality is we are still in a five day lockdown because we have seen failures in our hotel quarantine system,” he said.
“Families can't send their children to school because the hotel quarantine system failed. Small businesses are hurting and losing thousands of dollars a day from not being able to open because the hotel quarantine system failed.
“The WA government was the one government across the country who should have been in the best possible position to prepare for this and to learn from every other State and Territory about the risks when it comes to our hotel quarantine arrangements.
“Unfortunately, by the Health Minister's own admission that has failed and we now find ourselves in this lockdown.”
Yesterday, the Health Department said guards weren’t required to masks at all times because there was a risk of “self-contamination” if they touched their face.
Asked if guard who sparked the lockdown wore a mask when delivering medication to the door of a guest infected with the UK strain, a spokeswoman replied: “This is still under investigation.
“Noting, if he did not interact with the guest he would not have been required to wear a mask.”
Mr Kirkup also called for every doctor and nurse in hospitals across WA to have adequate access to a mask and other protective equipment.
It comes after the Australian Nurses Federation said only eight surgical masks were left for a staff of 20 in a hospital facility.
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2021-02-03 03:56:00Z
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