Perth to go into lockdown after one new positive case of coronavirus

Officials have said the man may have become infected with the UK strain of the virus.

(Getty Images)

Perth, the capital of Western Australia, has been sent into a 5-day lockdown after a security guard tests positive for Covid-19. 

The state has been free of cases for ten months, but this new addition has been responded to swiftly to avoid a potential spread. 

As per the lockdown rules, people are only permitted to leave their homes for essential reasons, such as shopping for food, medical needs, exercise (limited to one hour a day), and work when one cannot work from home. 

Travelling outside the region is not permitted. 

Schools, restaurants, bars, cinemas and gyms have been ordered to close.

"I know for many Western Australians this is going to come as a shock," Premier of Western Australia Mark McGowan said at a news conference. "We cannot forget how quickly this virus can spread, nor the devastation it can cause.

"Our model is to deal with it very, very quickly and harshly... so that we can bring it under control and not have community spread of the virus as you have seen in other countries around the world," he added.

Mr McGowan said the security officer may have become infected with the UK strain of the virus. 

"When the man was working at this hotel there were four active cases of COVID-19 in hotel quarantine," Mr McGowan said.

"Of those four cases we have at least three confirmed variant strains, two UK and one South African.

"We are told the guard was working on the same floor as a positive UK variant case."

Australia has recorded nearly 29,000 cases and 909 deaths since the pandemic began, posing a far lower rate of infection and death than other countries. 

Australia has now reopened the travel bubble with neighbouring New Zealand. Travellers will no longer be required to enter quarantine.