Perth is the latest Australian city to head into a snap lockdown aimed at stamping out a COVID-19 cluster resulting from another breach in CBD hotel quarantine.
The three-day lockdown, covering Perth and the Peel region south of the city, comes in response to news a 54-year-old Victorian man, a returned overseas traveller, evidently contracted COVID-19 from guests in an adjoining room.
After leaving quarantine he then visited several locations around the city in Perth’s first case of community transmission in more than a year. On 21 April, he then boarded a plane to Melbourne with 257 passengers and subsequently tested positive following 14 days in hotel quarantine in Perth and five days in the community.
A woman from Kardinya, in the city’s south, returned positive rapid test results on Friday after coming in contact with the man.
New potential exposure sites were revealed on Sunday, including a childcare centre in Landsdale, where a paediatric testing clinic has been established.
Other locations in Joondalup, Alexander Heights, Wangara, Canning Vale, Kardinya, Bentley and Morley were added to the WA Health Department’s list on Saturday night.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan said on Sunday that it was too early to predict if lockdown will end tomorrow as planned. “Right now, it’s too early to predict what will happen come Tuesday,” he told reporters on Sunday.
Health Minister Roger Cook and the state’s premier are meeting with health officials this morning to make a decision on whether to extend lockdown measures.