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More than 250 Australians due to arrive on a flight from South Africa tomorrow will be quarantined on Rottnest Island, West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has confirmed.
Key points:
- The Premier said there were many families on the flight from South Africa
- As such, he said Rottnest Island was a better option than city hotels
- Meanwhile WA recorded just one new COVID-19 case overnight
The plane is scheduled to arrive at Perth Airport from Johannesburg via Cape Town in South Africa on Wednesday morning and includes a number of West Australians and interstate passengers.
The 257 passengers will go through a health assessment at the airport and be placed in quarantine for the mandatory 14 days.
Mr McGowan said most would be taken to Rottnest.
"They're generally families," he said.
"If their health condition is good they'll be going back out to the island, where it is I think a much better environment than one of the hotels.
"Certainly for a family to have a unit at the island where you can get a bit of fresh air … it is a pleasant environment."
Passengers presenting with complex health needs or illness will remain in city hotels, close to hospitals or go to hospital.
A Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur arrived at Perth Airport last night.
Mr McGowan said there were about 80-90 people on the flight from Kuala Lumpur, but as far as he knew none had been sent to Rottnest.
It is believed all those passengers were taken to a hotel in the city for a 14-day quarantine.
Mr McGowan said an Air France flight may stop to refuel in Perth on its way to another destination and there could be a flight from India later this week but details were still being confirmed.
He said it was "pretty annoying" some people on these flights had waited so long to come home.
"Sometimes there's circumstances, but you know … this has now been ongoing for two months and people haven't come home," he said.
"Maybe they couldn't get a flight."
Wife of cruise ship passenger tests positive
One more person, an 80-year-old woman from Perth, has tested positive to COVID-19 in WA.
She is the wife of a passenger on the Costa Victoria cruise ship and is currently in hospital.
Nine more people have recovered from the virus in WA, meaning there are now only 47 active cases in the state.
Of those 28 are from WA, two are from interstate and 17 are from the Artania cruise ship.
There are 16 people in hospital and four remain in intensive care.
So far 35,155 people have tested negative to the virus, including 6,230 in regional WA.
WA has also received another planeload of personal protective equipment, including 500,000 surgical face masks and 120,00 isolation gowns.
Mr McGowan spoke during a media conference at Carine Senior High School ahead of the start of school term two tomorrow.
It will be a "soft start" to school, where parents are given a choice as to whether to send their children for the first three weeks.
"I just urge everyone to understand there will be new rules in places, new requirements for hygiene and the like," Mr McGowan said.
