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Perth and Peel enter three-day snap lockdown as Mercure hotel cluster grows

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Perth and Peel have entered a three-day snap lockdown after a Melbourne man spent five days in the city while potentially infectious with COVID-19.

The friend who he was staying with has now also tested positive.

The 54-year-old man arrived in Perth from Shanghai, China, on April 3 and left hotel quarantine on April 17, after testing negative to COVID-19 on his Day 12 test.

He then stayed with a friend and her family in the Perth suburb of Kardinya and visited various locations including a restaurant, a swimming pool and a university college before flying to Melbourne on April 21.

WA Premier Mark McGowan has announced a three-day snap lockdown for Perth and Peel. (9News)

Premier Mark McGowan said one of the people he had been staying with has returned a positive COVID-19 test, with health authorities still awaiting results from other family members.

Places of worship, pubs, clubs, bars, gyms, cinemas, entertainment venues, libraries and outdoor recreational facilities are shut down.

Cafes and restaurants can provide takeaway only.

Masks are mandatory for everybody over 12.

No visitors are permitted in hospitals or aged care. Weddings and funerals can go ahead, but with a 100-attendee capacity.

Residents living outside the restricted Perth and Peel regions are only allowed to enter to provide essential services or if they are returning residents.

Premier Mark McGowan confirmed that Anzac Day dawn services would not go ahead, encouraging residents to instead participate in marking the event from their driveways.

“I encourage┬аeveryone to take part in the┬аdriveway dawn service again this┬аyear, and I will do that again,” he said.

“We┬аwill monitor this very closely here┬аon and continue to assess the┬аsituation as more information comes┬аto light.”

The Mercure Hotel in Perth.
The Mercure Hotel in Perth, where COVID-19 has spread between guests undertaking hotel quarantine. (Supplied)

All passengers on board the flight the Melbourne man caught from Perth – Qantas flight QF778 – have been deemed close contacts and directed to self-isolate for 14 days.

It brings the total number of locally-acquired cases associated with the hotel outbreak to four.

The original pair that sparked an investigation by WA health authorities – a mother and her young child – tested positive on April 16 while still quarantined at the Mercure Hotel.

Mr McGowan said there were 16 others staying on that floor of the Mercure Hotel during the danger period, 13 of whom have so far returned negative test results.

The premier has requested Prime Minister Scott Morrison reduce WA’s international arrivals cap from 1025 a week to 512 a week for the next month.

Where the Melbourne COVID-19 case visited in Perth

The COVID-19 case that has sparked WA’s snap three-day lockdown was moving in the Perth community for several days while presumed to be infectious.

  • Premier Mark McGowan said on April 17, the man stayed with a friend and her two children in Kardinya.
  • On April 18, he visited a swimming pool in the southern suburbs.
  • He also visited Leeming, Northbridge, and stayed at St Catherine’s College.
  • On April 19, he visited Northbridge again, and once more spent the night at St Catherine’s.
  • On April 20, he visited Kings Park and Northbridge.
  • On April 21, he had breakfast at St Catherine’s, and was driven to the airport, where he boarded flight QF778 to Melbourne.

Mr McGowan said more specific details of danger areas and times would be released shortly, and anybody who had been to the locations would need to be tested and isolate until they return a negative result.

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