Western Australia Premier Mark McGowen has announced strict COVID-19 restrictions following the state’s mandatory five-day lockdown
COVID-19 restrictions will continue for almost two million West Australians, following the state’s five-day lockdown lifting tonight (Friday, 5th February). The announcement came from WA Premier Mark McGowen after a positive COVID-19 case was detected from a hotel quarantine last week.
Following the end of the lockdown tonight, masks will be mandatory when out of the house – except for outdoor exercise, high school students will be required to wear masks when school returns on Monday 8th February, but this will not be necessary for primary students. A limit of 20 people will be also permitted to gather in homes and a cap of 150 people in hospitality, retail, fitness, and entertainment venues. With venues re-opening, QR codes to check-in are vital for contact tracers and fines will roll out for those who do not comply.
Despite venues opening, casinos and nightclubs are to remain closed and dancing is still prohibited. A one-person per four-square-meter rule is in place for hospitality venues, limiting capacities significantly.
Premier says the expectation is WA will transition to Phase 4a restrictions on February 14. @sunriseon7
— Matt Tinney (@Matt_Tinney) February 4, 2021
The Premier insists that lockdown was not an overreaction, despite no new locally acquired cases being detected since the hotel quarantine worker was diagnosed. “Let’s imagine had we not done this, and we had cases out there incubating in the community and people moving around and spreading it, and then next week we suddenly had a big eruption of cases around Perth,” McGowen told press.
That is no biggie! Happy to wear a mask in public for a few more days if it stops the spread of the virus
— Grant Coppard🇦🇺 (@grantcoppard) February 4, 2021
The WA region will apply these post-lockdown restrictions until February 14.
