WA Health is reporting one new case of COVID-19 overnight, a returned traveller in her 20s, who is in hotel quarantine.
The woman, who arrived in WA on a flight from NSW without an approved G2G pass on 21 September, was intercepted by WA Police at Perth Airport.
She was transferred to a quarantine hotel, testing positive to COVID-19 on 23 September.
As required under WA’s border restrictions with NSW, the 15 other passengers on this flight are now in quarantine at a suitable premises.
Contact tracers have identified 17 close and casual contacts. As of noon today, 15 had so far tested negative to COVID-19, one test result pending and one still to yet tested.
The State’s total is now 1095. To date, 1080 people have recovered from the virus in WA.
WA Health is now monitoring six active COVID-19 cases in hotel quarantine including the case reported in today’s numbers.
Contact tracers have identified 47 close and casual contacts linked to a New South Wales truck driver, who returned a positive PCR result for COVID-19 earlier this week. As of 1pm today, 28 contacts had tested negative to COVID-19 with 11 test results pending and 10 people still to be tested. All contacts will remain in quarantine as directed.
A new location and additional time have been added to the list of exposure sites. These are published on the HealthyWA and wa.gov.au websites.
People are urged to check the list of exposure sites and get tested immediately if they have been to one of the sites. A list of all testing clinics is available on the HealthyWA website.
Testing clinics
Yesterday, 586 people were swabbed at State-run clinics. To date, there have been 1,748,720 COVID-19 tests performed in WA. Of those, 205,218 are from regional WA.
COVID-19 vaccinations
Yesterday, 26,148COVID-19 vaccine doses were recorded in WA, of which 11,717 were second doses. The total includes 4744 historic COVID-19 vaccine doses*. These figures represent COVID-19 vaccinations at State-run clinics and doses given as part of the Commonwealth rollout**.
There will be a walk-in COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the 2021 Perth Royal Show (external link) which opens tomorrow.
A Roll up for WA information and booking stand will be set up outside Optus Stadium for the grand final (external site), also tomorrow, and the latest vaccination television commercial will be played on the big screens.
Western Australian children aged 12 to 15 years are now eligible for a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination (external site). Parents and guardians are encouraged to visit rollup.wa.gov.au (external site) to register and book appointments for their children in this age group.
Walk-in community clinics are available for young people aged 16 years and over (year 11 and 12) and school staff (external site). Bookings are not required but it is recommended registrations are made through a VaccinateWA (external site) account to make it easier to check in. Proof of age is also required.
The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine (external site) is now available at selected WA pharmacies. To find a pharmacy offering the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, visit Vaccine Clinic Finder (external site) or findapharmacy (external site).
For the latest WA vaccination figures, visit the COVID-19 Coronavirus: Vaccination dashboard (external site)**.
Border controls
From late next month, freight, transport and logistics workers must have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to enter Western Australia from ‘high’ or ‘extreme’ risk jurisdictions, based on the latest public health advice.
Changes to the Transport, Freight and Logistics Directions under the Emergency Management Act 2005 will further protect this highly mobile workforce.
The Directions include, but are not limited to, freight truck drivers, pilot/support vehicle drivers, removalists, rail drivers and rail support crew, where these employees are required to travel from or through a ‘high’ or an ‘extreme’ risk jurisdiction for work.
New directions make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory (external site) for WA’s port workers who board or work with exposed vessels. A pop-up vaccination clinic will be available at Fremantle Port on 30 September to make it easier for workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Victorian update
Based on the latest health advice, Victoria will be elevated to the extreme risk (external site) category from 12.01am Wednesday, 29 September, 2021. This means travel from Victoria to Western Australia will not be permitted.
Under this category, exemptions for approved travellers has been further restricted to Commonwealth and State officials, Members of Parliament, diplomats and specialist or extraordinary circumstances determined by the State Emergency Coordinator or the Chief Health Officer.
These approved travellers are subject to the following conditions, unless otherwise advised, and are required to:
- undertake mandatory hotel quarantine at a State quarantine facility for 14 days at their expense
- get tested for COVID-19 on days one, five and 13
- have returned a negative COVID-19 PCR test in the past 72 hours
- receipt of at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, if eligible.
Other states
New Zealand
In line with all other Australian jurisdictions, travel from New Zealand is treated as travel from an international location (external site).
Variants
To date, 160 cases of variant strains have been detected in Western Australia – including 53 Alpha strain, 15 Beta strain, one Gamma strain and 91 Delta strain.
Visit WA Health’s HealthyWA website for the latest information on COVID-19.
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* 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.