Western Australia detects one new locally-acquired Covid case after person who visited an exposure site came forward for testing
- Western Australia has recorded another locally acquired case of coronavius
- Resident sought test after being in close contact with positive case
- Health officials confirmed they are attempting contact tracing to control case
Western Australia has recorded another locally acquired case of coronavius a day following the snap lockdown of greater Perth and Peel.
A resident sought a test on Friday after realising they had been at one of the exposure sites visited by a man who tested positive after flying to Victoria.
They tested positive and have since worked with state officials to attempt to identify any trail of the virus.
Western Australia Health have confirmed they are attempting to identify any further areas of risk and have confirmed the resident is self-isolating following their positive test.
The case takes the state’s total to four since the newest outbreak that saw a three-day lockdown imposed which ended all Anzac Day celebrations.
Millions of Western Australians have been plunged into a three-day lockdown after one local case of coronavirus
A Western Australia Health Department review into its hotel quarantine facilities and their ventilation on April 8th found the Mercure Hotel to be the most at risk of transmission
It comes after a 54-year-old man who was released from quarantine at the infamous Mercure Hotel and spent four days in the city tested positive in Melbourne on Friday morning.
The man’s friend who he stayed with also tested positive in Perth.
The man had caught the virus while in hotel quarantine from returned travellers, who had arrived from India and were staying in a nearby room on the same floor.
A Western Australia Health Department review into its hotel quarantine facilities and their ventilation on April 8 found the Mercure Hotel to be the most at risk of transmission, along with the Four Points and the Novotel Langley.
The report shows three hotels given a ‘high-risk’ designation, with the Mercure receiving the worst score and recommendation to be shut down as a hotel quarantine facility
Documents from Western Australia Health Department anaylsed the viability of Perth’s 10 hotel quarantine facilities
That led Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson to tell Premier Mark McGowan on April 14 the Mercure should not be used for returned travellers.
Less than a week later the hotel would be responsible for the state’s latest outbreak – which has now spread to Victoria and sparked a snap three-day lockdown over the Anzac Day weekend.
The results of the review were not published until after the latest infections, and Mr McGowan has been accused of ‘burying’ the report and presiding over a quarantine system full of ‘fatal flaws’.
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