As of Monday 15th of March further COVID-19 restrictions will be eased.

Today in the latest Perth COVID-19 update Mark McGowan announced the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in WA – pending no further outbreaks.

As of March 15th at 12:01am, WA will be open to all of Australia’s states and territories as restrictions ease for Victorian travellers. Plus restrictions around venues and business will be eased.

“Increasing the capacity limit to 75% capacity for both indoor and outdoor venues including restaurants, clubs, cafés, bars and places of worship will further benefit patrons as well as boost our business owners and operators,” states Mr McGowan.

Increased capacity of up to 75% will be allowed at outdoor and indoor venues including:

• Restaurants, cafes, food courts, and bars
• Indoor and outdoor auditoriums and amphitheatres
• Theatres
• Concert halls
• Cinemas
• Comedy lounges
• Performing arts centres
• Places of worship
• Function centres
• Community, recreation or youth centre or facilities, including community halls and sporting clubs including but not limited to:
  • Community halls, sporting clubs, Returned and Services League facilities and Police and Community Youth Centres;  
• WA’s major stadiums (Optus Stadium, HBF Park, RAC Arena, HBF Stadium – Main Arena)
• Funeral parlours

This is obviously great news for footy fans ahead of the AFL season with Optus Stadium now able to have a max capacity of 45,000.

The 2 square metre rule will continue to apply to all other unfixed seating venues and facilities including:

• Nightclubs
• Unseated events/festivals (music, beer, wine, cultural etc.)
• Galleries
• Libraries
• Sport and recreation facilities including gyms, recreation centres, group fitness classes and indoor and outdoor swimming pools
• Museums;
• Amusement parks
• Wildlife parks and the zoo
• Adult entertainment premises (including but not limited to strip clubs, brothels and sex on premises venues)
• Outdoor venues with unfixed seating, including pop-up bars and outdoor cinemas
• Events with a COVID Event Plan
• Pop-up events (i.e. Fringe festival – tents with auditorium seating for performances)
• Casino and gambling venues; and
• Arcades

Victorian Travellers

Victoria will fall under the ‘very low risk’ category, safe travel is permitted into WA subject to the following updated conditions:

• Completion of a G2G Pass declaration, stipulating they do not have any COVID-19 symptoms and which jurisdictions the traveller has been in over the previous 14 days
• All Perth Airport arrivals to undergo a health screening and temperature test
• Travellers to be prepared to take a COVID-19 test at the airport COVID clinic, if deemed necessary by a health clinician (voluntary asymptomatic testing also available); and
• Land arrivals to be met at the border checkpoint, for a health screening and to have their G2G Pass declaration checked. 

This will be the first time all Australian jurisdictions have been classified as ‘very low risk’ category under WA’s controlled border arrangements – providing encouraging signs for domestic travel.

WA’s International Travel Cap

WA’s international arrival cap has increased from 512 to 900 this week, as agreed with the Commonwealth.

There will be a further increase to the international travel cap from up to 1,025 from March 26.

The significant increase in international arrivals has raised concerns with Mr McGowan.

“Potential outbreaks from international travellers are still our country’s biggest threat, and as we increase the number of overseas arrivals, it will make these risks even more prominent.

“This is further complicated by the new strains of the virus and outbreaks internationally so while we ease restrictions even further, we need to lift our game when it comes to personal hygiene and checking in using SafeWA – to help keep us safe.”

Perth COVID-19 Update

Since Monday, there have been no new cases of COVID-19 recorded in Perth, with only 3 active cases remaining in the state.

The State’s total number of confirmed cases stands at 914.

To date, there have been 876,822 COVID-19 tests performed in WA.

Feature image: AAP Image/POOL, Tony McDonough

Further Perth news on SoPerth.com.au