WA Health has reported two new cases of COVID-19 overnight.
The State’s total stands at 1050.
There are now 11 active COVID-19 cases being monitored by WA Health, including two cases linked to the MV Darya Krishna who are in hospital, one case in hotel quarantine and eight cases aboard the BBC California berthed at Fremantle Port.
Please note: an additional case linked to the MV Darya Krishna was also identified after today’s reporting period concluded, this case is in hospital and will be included in tomorrow’s numbers.
One of the crew members from the MV Darya Krishna remains in ICU in a serious but stable condition, and the other two crew members are in a stable condition on a ward. The remaining 17 people on board the vessel will be tested today, with results expected in the coming days.
MV Darya Krishna Transfer Update
WA Health is investigating an incident that took place at Fiona Stanley Hospital during the emergency transfer from the helipad to a designated lift. FSH enacted COVID protocols during the transfer of the three crew members from the MV Darya Krishna. Staff managing the three crew members were fully vaccinated and wearing PPE, as they were transferred to their respective wards. Each patient was accompanied by a clinical team and a COVID spotter to safeguard the transfer.
FSH COVID patient transfer stipulates that after each transfer the designated lift is automatically locked and to remain open on the helipad level to ventilate for 30 minutes, prior to the lift being cleaned. The process also calls for the COVID spotter to monitor the lift to ensure it locks and remains at the helipad.
This end-to-end process was successfully tested on Friday 23 July 2021.
Yesterday, a technical fault failed to lock the lift at the helipad level after the transfer of the first crew member.
The COVID spotter observed the issue of the lift failure and requested the lift be manually locked down. However, two staff members, unrelated to the transfer process, did access the lift from a different level before manual lockdown could occur.
Given the short duration of time between the patient leaving the lift and the staff members entering, they are being considered as a close contact.
As a precaution the staff members will isolate in hotel quarantine for 14 days and undergo the necessary COVID testing.
No other breaches were identified during the care and movement of the following two crew members.
Lift mechanics have been called to identify the issue today.
Testing clinics
Yesterday, 1344 people were swabbed at State-run clinics. To date there have been 1,500,634 COVID-19 tests performed in WA. Of those, 181,022 were from regional WA.
A list of testing clinics is available on the HealthyWA website.
Vaccination
Yesterday, 11,301 people received a COVID-19 vaccination – 7762 of those were second doses. These figures represent vaccinations at State-run clinics and doses given as part of the Federal rollout.
For the latest WA vaccination figures, visit the COVID-19 Coronavirus: Vaccination dashboard (external site).*
Border controls
Western Australia has assessed New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria as medium risk (external site) states. The Australian Capital Territory is low risk (external site). The Northern Territory and Tasmania are considered very low risk (external site).
Variants
To date, 118 cases of variant strains have been detected in Western Australia – 53 Alpha strain, 15 Beta strain, one Gamma strain and 49 Delta strain.
Visit WA Health’s HealthyWA website for the latest information on COVID-19.
Follow us on Twitter: WAHealth
Note: *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.