COVID-19 in WA: Mark McGowan confirms WA reopening date February 5 will not go ahead as planned

The WA border opening has been cancelled, Premier Mark McGowan has revealed, with quarantine requirements to stay indefinitely.

Quarantine-free international and interstate travel was scheduled to restart on February 5 — just 16 days away.

However, the government has opted to open the border in several stages, arguing an unrestricted opening would be “reckless and irresponsible.”

From February 5, the hard border’s settings will be upgraded to allow for new exemptions for interstate travellers.

These will include broad compassionate reasons and those who have “specialist skills.”

All entrants will have to self-isolate for 14 days, be triple dose vaccinated, and undertake an onerous testing regime.

International entrants will have to undergo seven days of hotel quarantine and seven days of home quarantine.

Mr McGowan said that the border rules would be reviewed “over the course of the next month.”

The Premier said that the rapid spread of Omicron “changed everything” — with insufficient data to predict where WA case numbers and hospitalisations would peak.

“Unfortunately, even double-dose vaccinated people aren’t strongly protected against Omicron,” he said.

“Omicron is a whole new threat that we can’t ignore.

“So far, the science shows that people with only two doses of a COVID vaccine have only a 4 per cent protection against being infected by the Omicron variant.

“With a third dose it can provide a 64 per cent protection against infection.”

Mr McGowan said a “range of factors” would be considered before the government sets a re-opening date. He indicated he would like to see WA reach 80 or 90 per cent triple dose coverage. Currently 25.8 per cent of West Australians aged 16 and over have received a third dose.

Mr McGowan previously said the only reason he would delay the border reopening was due to an “unforeseen emergency”, such as if the Omicron strain turned out to be more deadly.

He committed to banishing the border on February 5, once WA had reached 90 per cent double dose vaccination. As of Thursday, 88.9 per cent of over 12s had received two doses.

About 6000 interstate and international passengers are due to touch down at Perth Airport on February 5, with up to 80,000 interstate and international passengers expected in the first two weeks.

Mr McGowan apologised to those who will have their plans disrupted by this border change.

“I know this decision will be unpopular with many people as holiday plans and some family gatherings will have been disrupted,” he said.

“For that, I’m sorry. I understand exactly what this means for many people who were hoping to reunite without any restrictions.”

Chief Health Officer Dr Andy Robertson said that keeping the border closed aligned with health advice. Opening up on Feb 5 would lead to 500-1000 community cases within a couple of days.

“Having a double dose … does protect against serious disease. Unfortunately, what we also found is that it wasn’t protective enough,” he said.

“Adding booster doses to that mix really does increase the benefit.”

Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson announced a number of changes to help the health system deal with the pressures of an outbreak when COVID-19 becomes widespread in the state.

From February 5, healthcare workers arriving in WA will have to isolate at home for seven days. Subject to testing requirements, they will be allowed to work for days eight to fourteen after they arrive.

Once COVID-19 becomes widespread in the community, all elective surgeries will reduce to category one and two for eight weeks. This will not be implemented on February 5.

“We will hold off on implementing this policy until we really need to in order to allow elective surgeries to continue for as long as possible,” Ms Sanderson said.