Omicron fears sees Western Australian Premier suspends reopening of state borders indefinitely

Rising fears over the spread of Omicron has today led to Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan to reverse his plan to reopen the state’s borders to the rest of the country on 5th February.

Premier McGowan, who had previously announced that the border would reopen when the state reached its 80% vaccination target, announced that the hard border will remain intact as a guard against the Omicron variant currently sweeping through the rest of Australia.

Pushing the vaccination target higher, saying he wants to see the population triple vaccinated, before looking at opening up its borders, Premier McGowan (pictured) has mandated that those who do want to enter Western Australia will need to quarantine for 14 days, be triple-dose vaccinated and take PCR tests.

Currently only 28% of the eligible population in Western Australia have taken a COVID vaccination booster - largely as a result of limited supply - although that number is expected to climb to between 35% and 38% by 5th February.

Describing Omicron as “new state of emergency”, Premier McGowan gave no timeline on when he expected the border to reopen, noting “unfortunately, the world changed in December, Omicron arrived.

“It would be irresponsible and reckless for the state government to ignore the facts and ignore the reality of the situation playing out on the east coast.

“Allowing hundreds or thousands of Omicron-infected people to fly straight into Perth from 5thFebruary with no testing, no quarantine and no public health measures would cause a flood of Covid across our state.

“It would cause a surge in cases, a surge in hospitalisations, and result in thousands of people not being able to work or go to school. We know that bad health outcomes lead to economic pain.”

The triple vaccination rule may mean that Western Australia will remain off limits to the rest of Australia - as it has for much of the last two years.