‘Enhanced restrictions’: WA clamps down as outbreak surges

Western Australia will maintain hard border measures despite recording more local cases than those from interstate and overseas.

Western Australia will maintain hard border measures despite recording more local cases than those from interstate and overseas.

WA recorded 51 local cases of the virus on Friday — up from 37 the day before.

Premier Mark McGowan said a possible end to the hard border arrangements would be reviewed throughout February and local case numbers would be taken into account.

He added that enhanced public health restrictions would be considered to slow the spread of the virus locally.

“As we get further community spread of the virus, particularly when it gets to hundreds and thousands of cases a day ... that will be a difficult period,” Mr McGowan told reporters.

“That’s something a bit foreign to us. We’ve been through two years of basically very little Covid — minuscule amounts of lockdown compared to other parts of Australia.”

Mr McGowan said the outbreak was exactly what the state had been planning for in delaying its hard border reopening, giving people time to get a third dose of vaccine.

Mr McGowan said delaying the hard border closure had given more people the chance to receive a booster vaccination. Picture: Tony McDonough/NCA NewsWire

It was also revealed on Friday that an elderly man had become the second person in WA to die after contracting Covid-19 in the community since the pandemic began.

The man, aged in his 70s, died at Joondalup Hospital.

According to WA Health, there is no record of the man being vaccinated and he also had underlying health conditions.

Mr McGowan described the development as “significant and tragic”.

It is the second death of a person in WA who acquired the virus locally since the start of the pandemic.

The man was not connected to the Juniper Aged Care outbreak.

This is our WA COVID-19 update for Friday, 11 February 2022.

For official information on COVID-19 in WA, visit https://t.co/zTYXZCJrTJhttps://t.co/PdPzUKI8P3pic.twitter.com/ZXNfCxwJqx

— Mark McGowan (@MarkMcGowanMP) February 11, 2022

Total new cases on Friday were 99, including 35 from interstate and 13 from overseas, taking the number of active cases to 482 in WA.

“Over the space of just a few days we’ve seen the number of local infections start to take off,” Mr McGowan said.

“That growth in cases is what we expected since Omicron was first detected in Perth on January 2, but we are starting to see a clearer picture of what we are dealing with.

“It is no cause for panic. However, we do need to ensure we continue our Covid-safe measures to limit infection risk.”

The number of people in WA with a first dose of vaccine is 98.3 per cent and for the second dose is 94.2 per cent.

One million people, or 49.1 per cent of the population aged over 16, have received a third dose.

“Omicron is here and if you’re not fully vaccinated, the virus can find you and it can have tragic consequences,” Mr McGowan said.

Originally published as ‘Enhanced restrictions’: WA clamps down as outbreak surges