WA to close ‘high-risk’ hotels as state records fourth day of no new community COVID-19 cases

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has told Prime Minister Scott Morrison the state will stop using three ‘high-risk’ hotels to quarantine returned overseas travellers out of the nine venues used by the state government.

The state has also gone its fourth day without a new community case of COVID-19 halfway through the initial Perth-Peel lockdown transition.

Three hundred and sixty-seven close contacts out of the 386 identified from the Mercure hotel cluster have come back negative as of Wednesday.Credit: Sharon Smith

The Department of Health was advised at the end of March that the Four Points Sheraton, Mercure Perth, and Novotel Langley were a high risk for spread of the virus because of poor ventilation.

WA Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson recommended on April 16 to transition the Mercure, which was rated the hardest hotel to fix because of its ventilation problems, to a hotel for low-risk seasonal farm workers and the continued use of the other two hotels for returned travellers.

Mr McGowan said on Wednesday, following an outbreak from the Mercure which led to a three-day shutdown of the Perth and Peel regions, he had informed Mr Morrison the Four Points and Mercure would no longer be used.

Health Minister Roger Cook and Premier Mark McGowan at a vaccination announcement on Wednesday.Credit: Hamish Hastie

The Premier said the Novotel Langley was the most likely to be used for seasonal workers from COVID-free countries like Tonga and Vanuata but the others would be closed from about mid-May.

“Whilst they [the three hotels] are very secure, they are not perfect,” Mr McGowan said.

“That [closure] will result in a reduction in the number of people we can take to WA.”

The state government had only been looking at replacing one of the hotels, with the Adnate, in the existing quarantine system for returned travellers.

Mr Morrison has agreed for WA to cut its weekly cap on returned travellers from more than 1000 to about 500 as of Thursday.

Mr McGowan has said his state would not return to taking more than 1000 people each week but has yet to nominate a number that would be suitable.

The Premier also defended his three-day lockdown, which cost the state economy an estimated $100 million, by pointing out how the New South Wales model where regions were not shutdown had led to a $3.2 billion economic loss.

Testing results continue to come in

So far 367 of the 386 close contacts identified as part of the Mercure cluster have returned negative tests for the virus but are continuing with their 14 days of quarantine as a precaution.

A further 542 casual contacts out of 819 have returned negative tests as of Wednesday.

There are still 296 outstanding test results but Health Minister Roger Cook said the government did not consider the outlying close contacts to be of significance, given some had already left the country, which would influence future restriction decisions.

“We’re in what you call a mop-up phase, ticking off on those last final close contacts,” he said.

“We’ll consider our next steps over the course of the next 24 hours.”

Four more cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in hotel quarantine, including three men in their 30s, 40s, and 50s respectively and a woman in her 20s.

WA is monitoring 27 active cases of the virus.

Mr McGowan said half the active cases in the state had come from India.

Vaccinations to ramp up from Monday

Mr McGowan said on Wednesday the state government had launched a new awareness campaign encouraging people to ‘roll up for WA’ and get a COVID-19 vaccine.

People over the age of 50 will be able to get vaccinated from Monday at the Claremont Showgrounds and Perth Airport mass vaccination clinics and May 17 at eligible general practices.

Anyone over the age of 70 is currently able to get a vaccine at the Claremont and airport sites.

Mr McGowan said the key to protecting WA communities was getting vaccinated.

“We’re keen to get as many people vaccinated as soon as we possibly can, to ensure those people in the more vulnerable age groups are covered and their lives and their welfare is made safer,” he said.

“I will be getting vaccinated on Monday, I expect it will be here and I’ll be doing it willingly because we all need to do our bit.”

So far 91,957 West Australians have received their first COVID-19 jab including 21,730 people who have received their second dose.