Bubble trouble: Perth plunged into 3-day lockdown, flight from Perth to Auckland set to depart tonight
Perth #Perth
Perth is entering a three-day lockdown after a former guest at a quarantine hotel tested positive for COVID-19.
In a press conference on Friday, Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan said the lockdown will run for three days over the long weekend and will begin at midnight.
“From midnight, people need to stay in the Perth and Peel regions and won’t be able to leave unless you have an exemption.”
People in Perth and Peel will only be allowed to leave their homes for work, essential shopping and medical needs.
Masks are also mandatory from 6pm.
A flight from Perth to New Zealand is set to depart at 7:45pm (local time) and arrive at Auckland Airport at 5:50am.
Kiwi’s in Perth have the option of boarding NZ176 in a bid to escape, or to wait out the three-day lockdown.
Earlier on Friday, it was revealed a former guest at a quarantine hotel had tested positive for COVID-19 after returning to Victoria from Western Australia.
He arrived back in the state on Wednesday and was told he was a close contact of a positive case in Perth. The man had stayed in the room adjacent to another positive case at the Perth Mercure hotel.
The man is asymptomatic and returned the positive test result on Friday, breaking Victoria’s 56 day streak of no community cases.
A close contact of the man has now also tested positive for the virus. McGowan confirmed on Friday the man spent five days in Perth after he left the quarantine hotel.
“We now need to assume he was infectious during this five day period.”
After spending time in Perth, the man flew to Melbourne on Qantas flight QF778.
It’s not yet known if the cases will impact the trans-Tasman travel bubble or how Kiwi’s currently in Perth will be affected.