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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Kathryn Lewis

Residents returning from WA lockdown areas told to quarantine

Passengers on a flight from Perth have been asked to travel directly to their accommodation and remain there. Picture: Karleen Minney

Anyone in the ACT who has been in parts of Western Australia currently in lockdown have been advised to quarantine by ACT Health.

Deputy chief health officer Vanessa Johnston said anyone in the ACT who has been in Perth metropolitian area or the Peel and South West regions of WA since January 25 should self-quarantine and get tested for COVID-19.

Dr Johnston said at this stage the period of quarantine would be the same as the WA lockdown.

Perth was sent into a five-day lockdown following the discovery of a positive COVID-19 case in a hotel quarantine worker.

WA authorities believe the security guard in his 20s, who worked at the Sheraton Four Points hotel in Perth's CBD, has likely contracted the highly contagious UK variant of the virus and have urged anyone to get tested if they have symptoms.

"In line with the WA Government's own lockdown we are saying that anyone who has been to one of these regions since January 25 should quarantine until 9pm on Friday February 5, even after they have received their test results," Dr Johnston said.

This means all passengers of the Qantas flight which arrived in Canberra from Perth on Sunday evening will be required to quarantine.

Among those passengers were several federal politicians returning to the ACT ahead of Parliament's return next week.

The Speaker had earlier advised any MPs who had been in the lockdown areas not to attend Parliament.

ACT Health had already requested that those passengers go directly to their accommodation and minimise their interactions with other people.

They should now seek testing for COVID-19 on Monday and then return to self-quarantine until 9pm on Friday.

"We are monitoring the situation closely in Western Australia and will be making further decisions tomorrow as additional information is received from WA authorities," Dr Johnston said.

"We are also asking that non-ACT residents who are in Western Australia to not travel to the ACT at this time."

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