Five new local cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in Western Australia after a visiting backpacker attended nightclubs and restaurants while infectious.
One is a close contact and three are casual contacts of the original case at an event at the Perth Mess Hall in Northbridge on Sunday, Premier Mark McGowan said.
A fifth case, also a casual contact from the same event, was confirmed during his COVID-19 press conference on Friday morning.
Two of the five were vaccinated, two were not and one is unconfirmed.
Anyone who attended the event must get tested and self-quarantine until January 3 under changes to rules announced on Friday morning.
Mr McGowan said there were 400 people at the Mess Hall event, including 100 from a backpackers in Fremantle which has been locked down.
People will be quarantined in hotel rooms, but details are still being worked out, he said.
The 25-year-old man’s infection was picked up on Thursday.
The backpacker, who arrived from Queensland and is originally from France, had felt unwell on Sunday but didn’t get tested until Wednesday.
He is believed to have been infectious for almost a week, unwittingly attending more than a dozen venues across Perth during that time.
Nine of his 21 close contacts have tested negative, including the man’s partner and housemates who are all vaccinated and have been moved to hotel quarantine.
There are 991 casual contacts, with 336 so far testing negative.
Mr McGowan confirmed the infectious man arrived in Australia before the pandemic on January 7, 2020.
He travelled to Perth from Queensland on December 12 – when travel rules allowed unvaccinated travellers from a state considered low risk.
Queensland was upgraded to a medium risk from low risk the following day.
From Saturday, Queensland and South Australia will be upgraded to high risk.
The border changes prompted questions about whether the state will reopen to the rest of Australia as planned from February 5.
“If we have community spread of the virus we’ll have to consider what we do,” Mr McGowan said.
He said it was likely WA would have further community spread in coming days. If that was the case the date may change – but not necessarily getting pushed back.
“It may well come forward because if we have community spread of the virus … it may well be that February 5 becomes redundant.”
Residents of Perth and the Peel region were ordered to wear masks at all public indoor venues under an edict that came into effect from 6pm on Thursday.
It will remain until at least December 28 and also applies to people in other parts of the state who have been in Perth or Peel since December 16.
High-risk large public events including music festivals are cancelled during this time and all nightclubs closed.
The mask-wearing rule does not apply to home settings including family Christmas Day gatherings or during vigorous outdoor exercise.
