Three truck drivers test positive for Covid-19 after visiting WA

A pizza store, supermarket and Chemist Warehouse are among the Covid-19 exposure sites visited by the infected truckies.

Three interstate truck drivers have tested positive for Covid-19 and may have been infectious while in Western Australia.

Two fully vaccinated drivers, who are both aged in their 30s and were travelling together, returned negative rapid antigen tests at the border before entering WA on December 9.

But while transiting through South Australia upon their return to NSW, their PCR tests on December 12 returned a positive result.

“It is possible both men were infectious during the three days that they were in Western Australia,” Health Minister Roger Cook told reporters on Tuesday.

“Our contact tracing team is currently in action, tracing the movements of the truck drivers while they were in WA.”

WA Health Minister Roger Cook said it was possible at least two truck drivers were infectious in the community. Picture: Colin Murty/The Australian

So far, 55 contacts and several exposure sites have been identified, with CCTV footage being scoured too.

The truckies visited a BP truck stop in Norseman on Thursday morning, then went to Moran’s IGA in Coolgardie and Crust Pizza in Cannington that night.

They visited Chemist Warehouse in Cannington on Friday morning, then went to a BP truck stop in Kewdale and a Woolworths store at Bentley Plaza in the afternoon.

In the early hours of Saturday, they were at the BP truck stop in Norseman.

Anyone who visited any of the exposure sites must get tested immediately and isolate until they get a negative result. The full list can be found here.

Mr Cook said the exposure list would continue to be updated as more information came to hand.

Interstate freight workers must wear PPE while in the WA community, but Mr Cook said he did not yet know whether they had complied.

“They’ve reported that they were wearing masks when they were outside the cab, but we’ve have had people say that before,” Mr Cook said.

“When we’ve examined CCTV (in past cases), we’ve realised that they weren’t necessarily wearing it to the extent that we would have liked.

“So we’re not making any predictions about their mask-wearing at this point in time.”

WA has strict rules in place for truck drivers.

In a separate incident, a truck driver from SA, who is aged in his 20s, has also been diagnosed with the virus.

He and his co-driver arrived in WA on December 9. Both are fully vaccinated and initially tested negative.

They were only in WA for about 24 hours before returning to SA, then were making their way back to WA days later when one of them tested positive. The second driver has so far tested negative.

Details of their movements are not yet confirmed and it is not known whether the truck driver was infectious while in WA.

It is also not known what strain of the virus the truck drivers had contracted.