WA authorities investigate Covid bungle at Perth hospital

Western Australia has recorded 24 new local Covid cases as authorities investigate a bungle at a Perth hospital on Saturday night.

Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson conceded the state could not eliminate the highly-transmissible Omicron variant as its active cases grew to 90.

WA has 24 positive cases in hotel quarantine and another 66 in self quarantine.

“It’s the start of Omicron,” she said, just two days after WA ditched plans to open its borders on February 5.

“It’s clear that we’re not going to eliminate Omicron. It’s about how we suppress and manage Omicron.

“That’s our intention as a government and it’s the advice of the chief health officer. It’s very clear it can’t be eliminated because it’s so transmissible.

“It’s a wake up-call for the broader community that we do have Covid in our community.”

There were 4743 tests carried out across Western Australian testing centres on Saturday.

Authorities are crossing their fingers that there will be no new infections after a woman and her Covid-positive child were allowed to walk into the emergency department waiting room at Fiona Stanley Hospital on Saturday night.

The Health Minister said the woman had warned staff outside that her child was positive, but she was incorrectly triaged when she was directed into the emergency department.

“This is in no way the fault of the woman who alerted staff members as to her status immediately,” Ms Sanderson said.

“The hospital has strict procedures in place for Covid-19 patients but unfortunately these were not followed.”

The woman, who is suspected of having Covid, and her child spent several minutes in the waiting area with staff and other families.

They were wearing masks and socially distanced at all times.

Everyone in the waiting area has been deemed a casual contact and ordered into isolation until they receive a negative test result.

“Masks were worn the entire time but this is being taken extremely seriously,” Ms Sanderson said.

The Health Minister said that procedures were in place so that Covid patients are triaged into specialist wards and a full review of the incident will be undertaken.

“It’s certainly challenging,” Ms Sanderson said.

“We don’t want this to happen. These procedures are in place to protect staff and other vulnerable individuals in emergency departments.

“It may well be a bit of a wake-up call for staff working on the frontline that we really do have Covid in our community now.”

It came as Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Khorshid urged Premier Mark McGowan to implement some control measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

On Friday, Dr Khorshid lashed the WA government via social media over its failure to open its state and international borders on time, saying he was “gutted” and the decision was a “broken promise”.

Then on Sunday, he again took to Twitter saying: “So @MarkMcGowanMP now that Omicron is clearly spreading in WA, don’t you think it’s time to act?

“We are on track to follow NSW and Vic unless action is taken now to slow the spread. Our bubble has burst and NSW shows that if you let it rip the consequences will be dire.

“Unfortunately that means sensible limits on venue capacity, high risk activities etc, and these decisions must be made NOW to be effective.

“Must flatten the curve as our hospitals and vulnerable need protecting. Masks are a start but not enough to slow the spread.”