WA Health has reported no new COVID-19 cases overnight.
The State’s total stands at 1064. To date, 1051 people have recovered from the virus in WA.
WA Health is monitoring four active COVID-19 cases who are all currently in hotel quarantine.
Vessel update
In addition, WA Health can confirm that 20 of the 22 crew members from the MV Ken Hou vessel are not unwell but are infected with COVID-19. These cases were identified after today’s reporting period concluded and will be included in tomorrow’s COVID-19 update.
The Department is working closely with the captain, shipping agent, vessel owner, WA Police, Fremantle Ports and Commonwealth agencies to manage the vessel and crew, with plans underway to move the two negative crew members to hotel quarantine.
For now, the vessel will remain berthed at Fremantle Port with all positive crew members remaining on-board and their health status monitored daily.
WA Health is also monitoring the health of two crew (out of 18) on another vessel, the bulk carrier Poavasa Wisdom, which is in anchorage near Fremantle Port.
Testing clinics
Yesterday, 1471 people were swabbed at State-run clinics. A list of all testing clinics is available on the HealthyWA website. To date, there have been 1,624,900 COVID-19 tests performed in WA. Of those, 193,448 were from regional WA.
Vaccination
Since vaccination numbers were reported yesterday, 25,109 vaccine doses were recorded in WA, of which 12,849 were second doses. The total includes 5362 historic vaccine doses*. These figures represent vaccinations at State-run clinics and doses administered through the Commonwealth rollout**.
For the latest WA vaccination figures, visit the COVID-19 Coronavirus: Vaccination dashboard (external site)**.
Donations to Afghan evacuees
The State Government is continuing to work with its community sector partners to support evacuees from Afghanistan who have recently arrived in Perth.
While many members of the Western Australian community are keen to show their support through the donation of goods and food, these donations are not needed at this time and will not be accepted at quarantine hotels.
There are strict COVID safety restrictions at WA hotel quarantine facilities and it is important that people do not visit these locations, especially during quarantine periods.
The best way to can help is to make a financial donation through the Australian Red Cross Afghanistan Crisis Appeal (external site).
Border controls
New South Wales
Based on the latest health advice, New South Wales will be further elevated to the new extreme risk (external site) category from 12.01am Thursday, August 26, 2021. This means travel from New South Wales to Western Australia will not be permitted, except for:
- Commonwealth and State officials
- Members of Parliament
- diplomats
- specialist or extraordinary circumstances determined by the State Emergency Coordinator or the Chief Health Officer.
Travellers approved under specialist or extraordinary circumstances are subject to the following conditions, unless otherwise advised. They must:
- undertake mandatory hotel quarantine at a State quarantine facility for 14 days at their own expense.
- get tested for COVID-19 on days one, five and 13.
- return a negative COVID-19 PCR test in 72 hours.
- have receipt of at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, if eligible.
Under the extreme risk setting, if a Western Australian returning from overseas falls into one of the above categories, is approved to enter WA and has completed 14 days of supervised quarantine in NSW – they will also be required to undergo 14 days of self-quarantine in a suitable premises in WA.
New Zealand
Based on the most recent health advice, New Zealand has transitioned to a ‘low risk’ jurisdiction under Western Australia’s controlled border.
Anyone who has entered WA from New Zealand is subject to the following strict conditions. They must:
- present for a COVID-19 test on arrival (within 48 hours) and on day 12.
- self-quarantine for 14 days in a suitable premises.
- complete a G2G Pass declaration before arrival, stipulating they do not have any COVID-19 symptoms, and which jurisdictions they have been in during the previous 14 days.
- land arrivals are to be met at the border checkpoint for a health screening and to have their G2G Pass declaration checked before proceeding to their self-quarantine premises.
It is important that recent travellers from New Zealand familiarise themselves with the latest exposure sites (external site), as contact tracing continues to uncover more locations of concern.
Northern Territory
All people arriving into Western Australia from the Northern Territory are required to get tested immediately (within 48 hours) and isolate until they have received a negative result. This includes people crossing into the Kimberley from the Northern Territory.
A person who refuses to get tested will be required to self-isolate for 14 days.
Anyone who has been at the listed NT exposure venues (external site) on the dates and times specified are required to self-quarantine for 14 days and be tested immediately (within 48 hours) and again at day 11.
Anyone from the Darwin and Katherine areas who did not visit the venues and has arrived from August 12 to 16 is advised to get tested if they develop any symptoms that may be related to COVID-19.
The Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and Victoria are at medium risk (external site), while South Australia is assessed as low risk (external site). Tasmania is considered very low risk (external site).
Variants
To date, 128 cases of variant strains have been detected in Western Australia – including 53 Alpha strain, 15 Beta strain, one Gamma strain and 59 Delta strain.
Visit WA Health’s HealthyWA website for the latest information on COVID-19.
Follow us on Twitter: WAHealth
* Historic vaccine doses are vaccinations that were administered up to 10 days before the current date but were recorded on the Australian Immunisation Register since the last report.
** WA vaccination data for the WA COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard is sourced from the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR). AIR is a national register maintained by the Australian Government that records all vaccines given to all people in Australia. WA data includes all COVID-19 vaccinations in WA, whether administered by WA Health, Australian Government providers or other providers (including GPs). WA previously reported only WA Health data. Note that the dashboard does not update until after 2pm Monday to Friday. A vaccine dashboard data interpretation guide (external site) is also available to help you.