WA infant son of hotel quarantine case tests positive

Health authorities have revealed the infant son of a person staying in hotel quarantine has tested positive to coronavirus in one Australian state.

An infant has been infected with the coronavirus in Western Australia.

The young son of a previously reported case in hotel quarantine has on Saturday become the 1000th case of coronavirus in the state since the pandemic began.

Information on the boy’s condition was not immediately available.

The news came as Premier Mark McGowan defended his decision to lock down the Perth and Peel regions for three days following community spread of the virus last month.

“It’s not something I enjoy doing, it’s not something I want to do,” Mr McGowan told the 6PR radio station on Friday.

“What I want to do is prevent the virus from getting here. If the virus does come in and we have potential community spread, well there’s not many tools we have available.

An infant has been infected with the coronavirus in Western Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

“A lockdown is really – bar everyone getting vaccinated – one of the only tools we have available.”

The state has vaccinated a total of 98,895 people, including about a third who have received both doses of the vaccine.

On Friday, 2250 people received their jabs, the Western Australia health department said.

There were 6870 COVID-19 tests performed on Friday in the state.

Out of the infected Western Australians, 68 people have had one of the more transmissible mutant strains of coronavirus.

Western Australia has had the fourth-lowest number of total coronavirus cases of all states and territories in Australia since the pandemic started.

The infant’s infection means the state now has a case count in the four digits, along with NSW, which has had over 5400 cases in total, and Queensland, which has had over 1500.

Victoria’s total of more than 20,000 cases puts it far ahead of the rest of Australia, although the majority of those cases happened during the second wave of infections last year.