The Western Australia government has escalated its COVID-19 pandemic response and toughened its border rules, banning Queenslanders and South Australians.

December 30, 2021

Western Australia has escalated its COVID-19 pandemic response with tougher border rules, tightening entry requirements for Queenslanders and South Australians.

Queensland recorded 2222 cases on Thursday and an infected child under the age of two has died in South Australia as the state detects another 1374 cases.

From Friday at 6pm, both states will be deemed ‘extreme risk’, with travellers not permitted into WA except in extraordinary circumstances.

Premier Mark McGowan said the decision was based on both states recording significant COVID-19 case spikes in recent days.

“The arrival of the Omicron variant in Australia has seen cases surge in both Queensland and South Australia, and unfortunately we expect this trend to continue,” he said on Thursday.

Under the extreme risk classification, travel exemptions will only be approved for Commonwealth and state officials, members of parliament, diplomats, and people who perform specialist roles.

Extraordinary circumstances entry applications will be assessed by WA Police or the chief health officer.

All approved travellers must be double-dose vaccinated and have returned a negative PCR test 72 hours before arriving in WA.

They also must undertake hotel quarantine at a state-run facility for 14 days at their own expense and get tested for the virus on days one, five and 13.

Travellers from the two states approved for entry into WA under their previous classification of high risk have been warned to move quickly.

The changes were announced a day after WA detected two new local COVID-19 cases linked to an infected French backpacker who travelled from Queensland.

The community cluster which sprang from Perth Mess Hall dance party 10 days ago has grown to 12 infections with fears more cases are likely.

WA’s first dose vaccination rate climbed to 91.7 per cent for people aged over 12, and 83.6 per cent for both doses.