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Western Australian threatens to close borders to ALL states if coronavirus cases continue to grow
- WA Premier Mark McGowan threatens to close border to all other states
- If NSW and Victorian coronavirus outbreaks spreads beyond, WA border to shut
- ‘Putting up borders to stop the spread of the virus works’: Premier McGowan
Western Australia will consider closing its borders to all states if the coronavirus outbreaks in NSW and Victoria spread elsewhere, Premier Mark McGowan says.
With WA already closed off to those two states, the premier says there are no plans for more hard border closures at this stage.
But he says the state government will not hesitate to act to protect local residents.
Western Australia’s Premier Mark McGowan (pictured) said shutting borders stops the virus spreading
Pictured: passengers from Melbourne arrive at Perth Airport on December 8 after the border reopened for the first time in months
‘Obviously, if there were outbreaks across other states, or if we saw continuing spread from New South Wales or Victoria into other states we’d need to look at that,’ Mr McGowan said on Monday.
‘So, if we have to bring back a hard border to all the states we would do that if there was spread into other states that necessitated that outcome.
‘Putting up borders to stop the spread of the virus works.
‘If we need to put up the border to protect the welfare, health and economy of Western Australia we will.’
Airport staff disinfect the Perth Airport terminal escalators on December 8. Western Australia will shut its border to all jurisdictions if the Covid outbreak spreads out of NSW and Victoria
Ground zero: BWS at Berala, in Sydney’s southwest, is at the centre of the latest Covid cluster
WA is not taking any chances so close to a vaccine and will close its borders if the virus spreads to other jurisdictions. Pictured: Passenger arriving at Perth Airport on November 14
WA was the last state to lift all its border restrictions towards the end of 2020.
It reimposed border closures with NSW and Victoria after the government revised their status to medium risk in response to the latest virus case clusters in Sydney and Melbourne.
Only people granted exemptions are still allowed to enter, while West Australians returning home will be required to quarantine for 14 days.
Any Victorians who arrived in WA between December 21 and New Year’s Day, ahead of the border closure, are also required to self-isolate for two weeks from when they first entered the state.
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