WA Health is reporting one new case of COVID-19 overnight. This case was reported in yesterday’s statement but is recorded in today’s official numbers.
The case is linked to the family of a returned diplomat. All are in hotel quarantine.
Contact tracing has identified 50 close and casual contacts. So far, 41 have tested negative to COVID-19 with eight results pending.
All contacts remain in self-quarantine for 14 days and will be managed by WA Health public health officials.
The State’s total stands at 1110. To date, 1085 people have recovered from the virus in WA.
As of 8pm last night, WA Health was monitoring 16 active cases of COVID-19, including four people who are in hotel quarantine, six in Fiona Stanley Hospital from the vessel, MV Stolt Sakura, and six aboard the Sakura.
Vessel update
Of the six hospitalised MV Stolt Sakura crew members, two remain in ICU - one person is in a serious condition and the other person is listed as serious but stable.
The other four crew members are being managed on a respiratory ward and are in a stable condition.
A crew member has been transferred to hotel quarantine this morning. While his condition has not deteriorated to a stage where hospitalisation is required, this will provide him with greater access to monitoring of his health status.
At this stage it is expected that the other crew members will remain in isolation or quarantine on board the vessel unless they need to be transferred for medical treatment. WA Health will continue to work with the vessel and key maritime stakeholders regarding its ongoing management.
Adelaide
WA Health has contacted Western Australian travellers from Virgin flight VA722 from Adelaide to Perth at 18:00 hours on Friday 1 October following Adelaide Airport being listed as an exposure site.
They have been instructed to get tested and isolate until they return a negative result.
This is in relation to a person who travelled from Victoria to South Australia, arriving at 17:25 hours in Adelaide on Friday 1 October, who returned a positive COVID-19 test.
To date, WA Health has commenced follow-up and testing of 56 passengers, considered to be casual contacts, with 56 returning a negative result so far.
Anyone who has been to an exposure location listed on the SA website (external site) should quarantine until they have been advised otherwise by Public Health.
Testing clinics
Yesterday, 592 people were swabbed at State-run clinics. To date, there have been 1,784,983 COVID-19 tests performed in WA. Of those, 208,465 are from regional WA.
A list of all testing clinics is available on the HealthyWA website.
COVID-19 vaccinations*
Since vaccination numbers were reported yesterday, 24,183COVID-19 vaccine doses were recorded in WA – 11,419 of these were second doses. The total includes 4982 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 are many regional COVID-19 vaccination clinics open across WA, with bookings preferred but walk-ins accommodated where possible.
Western Australian children aged 12 to 15 years are 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 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
New directions make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for FIFO and other resources sector workers. They must receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by 12:01am 1 December 2021 and be fully vaccinated by 1 January 2022.
This will apply to FIFO (fly-in fly-out) and local workers on WA mining and resource sites, people who work in remote operations, or run critical infrastructure, including remote train and port control.
Directions are also in place that make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for freight, transport and logistics workers who enter Western Australia from high or extreme risk jurisdictions, based on the latest public health advice.
New directions make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory (external site) for WA’s port workers who board or work with exposed vessels.
Victoria
Based on the latest health advice, Victoria has been elevated to the extreme risk (external site) category. This means travel from Victoria to Western Australia is not permitted.
Under this category, exemptions for approved travellers have been further restricted to Commonwealth and State officials, Members of Parliament, diplomats and specialist or extraordinary circumstances determined by the State Emergency Coordinator or Chief Health Officer.
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, 169 cases of variant strains have been detected in Western Australia – including 53 Alpha strain, 15 Beta strain, one Gamma strain and 93 Delta strain. Visit WA Health’s HealthyWA website for the latest information on COVID-19.
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†A rapid antigen test that returns a result other than negative is termed a ‘non-negative’ result, as it requires a follow-up confirmatory PCR test before it can be deemed a true positive result.
** 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.