Perth hotel quarantine guard tests positive for COVID-19, along with two others

Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan has confirmed three new COVID-19 cases in Perth, including a hotel quarantine security guard potentially infectious in the community for four days.

The cases stem from the guard in his 20s who was infected with the virus while working at the Pan Pacific Hotel, Mr McGowan said. 

The man worked on the same floor as two other positive cases staying in hotel quarantine, he said.

He had been out in Perth’s inner-northern suburbs for days before testing positive for COVID-19.

Two of the seven people currently living with the man had since tested positive for the virus.

They have all been moved in hotel quarantine.

Mr McGowan said despite the three new cases, a full lockdown was not yet necessary because Perth was still subject to restrictions after another breakout of the virus last month.

However, he said, a lockdown could be enforced if the situation changed.

Man potentially infectious for four days

The man, who has had his first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, worked at the Pan Pacific between April 24 and 26.

Mr McGowan said it was possible the man could have been infected while two people with COVID-19, who had arrived from the United States and Indonesia, were transferred to their rooms.

Contact tracers believe the man may have first been infectious in the community on a day off work on Tuesday, April 27.

He moved around the community for four days before returning a positive COVID-19 test on Saturday morning.

Between Tuesday and Thursday, the man visited two supermarkets in Balcatta and Stirling as well as a café in Joondanna.

He developed coronavirus symptoms on Thursday evening, which he assumed to be a side effect from his vaccine.

On Friday morning, he visited a mosque in Mirrabooka in the morning before getting a COVID-19 test.

The test was confirmed as positive on Saturday morning.

The man was residing at a house in Nollamara, about 10 kilometres north of Perth’s CBD, with seven people, including two visitors from Canberra.

One of the Canberra guests as well as a person directly sharing a room with the man have tested positive for the virus, while the other five have returned negative results at this stage.

In a statement, the Pan Pacific said it had reviewed CCTV footage and had confirmed the security guard, who last worked at the hotel on April 26, had “no contact with any of the hotel’s staff members that were working on the same floor”.

The hotel also said there was no contact between the security guard and guests “already accommodated” on the floor where he was positioned.

“We take our role of caring for returning Australians and our community’s safety very seriously,” the statement said.

“All hotel associates working in the red zone have been vaccinated once and only a handful are awaiting a second round.”

The Pan Pacific also noted that its “commercial green zone” — including restaurants, bars and the main lobby — was completely “cut off” from the “red zone”, which operates as a quarantine facility.

Lockdown decision expected 

Mr McGowan said contact tracers were working to track all of their movements in the past week.

“They are working as fast as they can to ensure we can have anyone that was potentially exposed be put in self-isolation and tested as soon as possible,” he said.

Mr McGowan said a full lockdown of the city was not required at this point.

He said that was because the infected people’s movements were limited by the ongoing coronavirus restrictions Perth is under.

“But it is possible this could change,” Mr McGowan said on Saturday.

“Our restrictions in place, our use of masks and the ability of our contact tracers and testing, gives us the ability to hold on a lockdown decision this afternoon.

“We’re effectively in a holding pattern and I hope we can avoid going back into lockdown.

“But if we need to, that is what we’ll do.”

However, all people in and from Perth and Peel must now wear a mask while at indoor and outdoor public spaces.

A decision on the prospect of plunging Perth and Peel’s two million residents into the second lockdown in just over a week is expected on Sunday morning.

Seven potential exposure locations

Here is a list of all of the known potential exposure locations stemming from these three cases:

Derby crowd still going ahead

On Thursday, Mr McGowan announced a 75 per cent crowd would be allowed at Perth Stadium on Sunday to watch the West Coast Eagles v Fremantle Dockers derby.

He said that plan still stood for now.

“Obviously we’re doing a huge amount of testing and we’re testing the close contacts of these people,” Mr McGowan said.

“If that changes, we’ll let people know as soon as we can.”