Millions of Western Australians will be freed from a snap three-day lockdown after the state recorded zero new cases of coronavirus overnight.
Earlier on Monday, it emerged the coronavirus-infected patient who sparked the three-day lockdown was granted an exemption to fly to virus-riddled India to get married before returning to Australia four months later.
The man is understood to have left Perth headed to India on December 12 and returned to the city with his new bride on April 10 before he tested positive while in quarantine at the Mercure hotel three days later, The West Australian reported.
The virus was passed to his wife and spread into other rooms on the same floor, infecting three others.
Outraged West Australians have expressed their anger online as to why he was permitted an exemption to fly there and then return.
There is growing outrage over the decision to let the infected man back into Australia from India on April 10. He tested positive while in quarantine at The Mecure Hotel in Perth
Perth residents will find out later on Monday whether a snap three-day lockdown will end at midnight. Pictured are masked residents walking along Cottesloe Beach on Sunday
‘Why was patient zero in Perth’s latest coronavirus outbreak allowed to return from India after being given an exemption to travel there for a wedding? Think of all the weddings & funerals that have been missed here in Australia,’ Perth talkback radio host Scott Emerson tweeted.
The Department of Home Affairs refused to confirm whether the infected man was allowed to leave Australia to get married in India.
‘We do not comment on individual cases,’ a department spokesman said.
Travel exemptions to India were revoked last week when the federal government declared India as ‘high risk’ and limited travel to ‘only very urgent circumstances’.
More than 134,758 Australian citizens and permanent residents have been given exemptions to leave Australia’s border since the start of the pandemic in early 2020.
Mr McGowan, who shut down the state on Friday night over just two local Covid-19 cases, has warned the rules could even be strengthened if more cases are found.
There are growing questions as to why the infected man was allowed to fly back to Perth from coronavirus-riddled India earlier this month. Pictured are travellers having their temperature checked upon arrival at Perth Airport
State head of the Australian Medical Association Dr Andrew Miller predicts there is a 50/50 chance the lockdown will be extended as hundreds of close contacts await test results.
‘We are still waiting for results that haven’t been announced from close contacts which are now in quarantine, so we’ll know about lunchtime,’ he said.
‘I’d call it a 50/50 at the moment.’
On Sunday Premier McGowan warned residents in Perth and the nearby Peel region some restrictions will carry on.
A snap three-day lockdown of Perth could be extended beyond Monday. Pictured: Residents wear masks at Cottesloe Beach on Sunday
The premier was expecting more than Saturday’s 12,000 Covid tests (pictured) to be completed on Sunday and warned restrictions could be tightened
‘I’m sure there will be some further measures that continue,’ he told reporters.
‘What they are, we won’t know until tomorrow morning. We’ll get health advice… and I think people should get used to the prospect that there will be some further measures continue beyond Monday.’
‘It all depends on the circumstances. I can’t predict what will happen. There will be an extension of some form of controls.’
The lockdown cancelled ANZAC Day dawn services and confined residents to their homes except for shopping, exercise, medical care and essential work.
On Sunday Premier McGowan warned residents (pictured in Subiaco) in Perth and the nearby Peel region that some restrictions will carry on
The restrictions were sparked by a 54-year-old man catching coronavirus in hotel quarantine from returned travellers from India who were in a nearby room.
The man was released after testing negative but developed symptoms and tested positive five days later when he arrived in Melbourne.
The man’s friend, who he stayed with for one night in Perth, also tested positive on Friday, prompting Premier McGowan to order the lockdown that night.
A third case was recorded when a man aged in his 40s tested positive on Saturday after dining at Kitchen Inn restaurant in Kardinya, where the other two cases had been.
His household contacts have been cleared of the virus, but officials have extended the list of possible transmission sites, including a childcare centre, based on his recent activities.
Premier McGowan meanwhile remains locked in a verbal battle with the federal government over management of the hotel quarantine scheme.
Millions of Western Australians were plunged into a three-day lockdown after a local case of coronavirus. Pictured: Premier Mark McGowan
He wants Scott Morrison to open air bases and Christmas Island to accommodate the travellers, insisting hotels are not safe enough because the virus can travel between rooms.
‘I think it’s becoming more urgent and I suspect all the states are getting pretty heartily sick of it that they have these facilities that are available and they refuse to use them, so we’re saying to the Commonwealth it’s time they step up.
‘I’m getting to the end of my tether with the Commonwealth handing responsibility to the states and not helping with this responsibility.’
Defence Minister Peter Dutton hit back, saying the facilities are not fit for purpose and that states had previously agreed to the hotel quarantine scheme.
A Commonwealth spokesman said defence bases are needed for defence personnel and migration detention centres are not appropriate because they contain criminals facing deportation.
