The McGowan government has announced strict new regulations preventing arrivals into the state from Victoria.
From midnight Thursday, no-one will be allowed into WA if they have been in Victoria in the past 14 days.
Exemptions will be reduced significantly, meaning only transport, freight, logistics and other essential services approved by the Chief Health Officer will be allowed to enter WA.
WA Police will perform border checks under the state of emergency declaration.
“People arriving from Victoria or who have travelled from Victoria … are under a much stricter regime even though 98 per cent of all arrivals (from the east) into WA have already stopped,” WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said on Thursday.
“Persons who have been allowed into WA including from Victoria have been very tight for quite some months, from midnight tonight it will be much tighter.”
All arrivals into WA from Victoria will have to undergo mandatory COVID-19 testing and could face fines of up to $5000 if they refuse.
“Everyone permitted to enter will be served with notice if they have been in Victoria within the last 14 days and will need to take a COVID test on day 11 while in WA or when symptoms develop,” Health Minister Roger Cook Cook said.
“Police will continue to perform checks on people in self-quarantine.”
Anyone arriving in WA from Victoria without a valid exemption will be turned away.
WA is also extending its state of emergency for another 14 days, until July 23.
Dawson said the date was likely to be extended further, given the situation in other parts of the country.
“We are not immune from this virus,” he said.
“It’s for the public safety of everyone.”
WA has recorded three new cases of COVID-19 overnight, Cook confirmed on Thursday.
All three are returning overseas travellers, two from Dubai and one from Sudan.
“We feel deeply for everyone in Victoria and what they are going through,” Cook said.
He said the spike in Victorian infections showed how “dangerous and unpredictable” the virus was.
“WA has been lucky to get back to living in a COVID-safe way,” he said.
There has been a gradual increase in returning overseas travellers as people see WA as a “desirable safe haven” from the virus, Cook said.
There are currently 1,507 people in hotel quarantine, but that number was expected to rise to 2,000 by the weekend.
Cook said a new advertising campaign would be launched to remind people of the measures they should undertake to prevent the spread of the virus.
“Now is not the time for complacency,” he said.
