A popular pub in the tourist town of Broome has been listed as a COVID-19 exposure site nearly two years after the virus was last confirmed in Western Australia's north.
Patrons of Divers Tavern have been advised to monitor for symptoms if they were at the venue between 8:30am and 12:30pm on Thursday December 30 after an offshore worker passed through the pub.
The man then took a flight to Queensland where he subsequently tested positive for the virus.
The WA Health Department has emphasised the exposure site is extremely low risk, but anyone who develops symptoms should isolate and get tested immediately.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Divers Tavern said they were following all relevant health advice and they would remain open.
No further exposure sites in Broome have been listed by WA Health.
Member for Mining and Pastoral and former Broome resident Neil Thomson said he had questions around where the worker went while in Broome.
The tavern only opens at 11am on weekdays.
"We really need to get the specifics," Mr Thomson said.
"The fact that this person or this infected person … was spending period of time in Broome and was able to go to a hotel at that time, those are questions that need to be clarified for the community."
Mr Thomson said while the positive case was extremely concerning it should also serve as a wake-up call to people in the Kimberley, who have largely dodged the worst of the pandemic.
"People really need to be aware … the only safe way to progress is to be vaccinated, and we know that in the north-west and particularly in the Pilbara those rates are very low," he said.
Low rate of vaccination in Kimberley
Vaccination rates around the region remain low, with the Kimberley recording a 65.8 per cent double dose rate.
The low rates continue to persist despite the state planning to re-open in just a month, on February 5.
The last time the Kimberley recorded active cases was in April 2020 when four healthcare workers in Halls Creek tested positive for the virus.
Subsequent closures saw the four individual councils of Broome, Derby West-Kimberley, Halls Creek, and Wyndham-East Kimberley shut off to all outside visitors and ban travel between the shires.
Wastewater testing also detected traces of the virus in Broome in August last year, but a positive case was never publicly identified.
Broome locals, including Owen "Rabbit" Pointer, said the latest news around the exposure site had made the virus feel closer than ever before.
"This new variant is bound to come," he said.
"I've had two jabs and the booster, so I'm pretty confident. But at 68 [years of age] you've still got to be wary."
Broome resident Lorna Kelly said it was easy to feel safe in Western Australia and removed from the outbreak in the eastern states.
"We've been very lucky out in the remotes [communities], but I think once the boom gates open the flood will come in," she said.
