Western Australia has recorded no new cases of coronavirus after two days of lockdown – as officials investigate how a hotel quarantine security guard caught the UK strain of coronavirus.
Premier Mark McGowan said there were 15,496 new tests and told those who had been swabbed ‘you have done your state proud’.
Perth, Peel and south-west WA were plunged into lockdown on Sunday after a hotel quarantine security guard at the Sheraton Four Points hotel tested positive.
Western Australia has recorded no new cases of coronavirus after two days of lockdown. Pictured: Scarborough beach in Perth
Perth residents are allowed out of their homes for one hour of exercise with a mask on
Some 151 close contacts and 68 casual contacts of the guard have been contacted by officials and asked to isolate and get tested.
The infected guard worked two 12-hour shifts on both January 26 and 27 while there were four Covid-19 patients there, including two with the highly-infectious UK variant and one with the South African strain.
Mr McGowan said genomic sequencing has revealed the guard caught the UK strain from an infected traveller on the floor he was working on.
The guard had delivered medication to the door of the patient’s hotel room but had not gone inside.
Nurses take swabs at a COVID-19 testing clinic in Perth on Monday as residents endured lockdown
Officials have temporarily stopped overseas arrivals from staying at the hotel and are asking anyone who left the hotel from January 25 to isolate and get tested.
‘We have decided to take an extra cautious approach at this facility until we find out exactly what occurred,’ Mr McGowan said.
‘As a result, no further overseas arrivals will be going into this quarantine facility at present.
‘Existing arrivals in quarantine at the four points hotel which were due to leave incoming days will remain in quarantine until they complete an additional negative test.
‘Anyone who has been recently released from this facility going back to January 25 is being contacted directly by our health teams to instruct them to remain in self quarantine until they receive a further negative test result,’ the premier said.
The man, who is aged in his 20s and from Maylands, was working as a security guard at Sheraton Four Points hotel
The guard was probably infectious for five days before he tested positive to Covid-19, authorities believe.
And during the time he was infectious, he visited 15 locations across Perth – including a Coles, KFC, hair dresser, halal grocery store and Indian consulate – leaving contact tracers in Western Australia scrambling to locate all potential contacts.
The security guard, who is in his 20s and from the inner-suburb of Maylands, became the first instance of community transmission in the state in 10 months when he tested positive to the virus on Saturday night.
The man, who claims he was wearing PPE while working at the hotel, returned negative results as part of routine testing on January 15, 17 and 23 but started to become unwell on January 28 – and called in sick for his shift on January 30.
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Western Australia’s chief health officer Andy Robertson said the security guard was most likely infectious from January 26 – five days before his positive test result came through on Saturday night.
WA’s health incident coordinator Robyn Lawrence on Tuesday claimed the guard ‘did everything right’ despite failing to isolate when he first fell ill.
He eventually attended a GP practice in Nedlands and got tested.
‘He was unwell, he stayed home, he sought medical advice and then subsequently the following day when he was still unwell, sought a COVID test,’ Dr Lawrence told Perth radio 6PR.
Health authorities have listed 15 venues, on top of Sheraton Four Points hotel, as potential exposure sites after they were visited by the security guard. Pictured: Map shows venues the positive Covid case visited
‘There is no bungle at this point in time.
‘I will agree that the State Health Incident Control Centre is responsible for the hotel quarantine program and we take that responsibility incredibly seriously.’
Anyone living in the lockdown zone, including school students, must stay at home unless shopping for essentials, attending to medical or healthcare needs, exercising within their neighbourhood or working if unable to do so remotely.
Metropolitan testing clinics are staying open until 10pm, but Opposition Leader Zak Kirkup has called for the government to open a 24-hour clinic.
He also wants an immediate end to some hotel workers holding second jobs.
Mr McGowan has said the government is close to enforcing such a ban which is likely to be softened by a 40 per cent pay increase.
The Sheraton guard is also a rideshare driver but is not believed to have worked in that job since January 22 – several days before likely becoming infected.
He is said to be fully cooperating with a police investigation.
With AAP
