Western Australia races to contain Perth Covid cluster as Greg Hunt declines to condemn border decision

WA recorded seven new Covid cases on Saturday. There were 20,148 new cases in New South Wales, 16,016 in Victoria and 15,050 in Queensland.

While the WA numbers remain extremely low compared with states where the Omicron variant has spread, concerns are mounting that a more serious outbreak could still take hold despite the decision to keep the state border shut.

In a strongly worded statement, Duncan-Smith called on the WA government to introduce modest restrictions, and to properly prepare the health system and schools for the pandemic.

The federal health minister, Greg Hunt, said on Saturday that he sympathised with families kept apart by the extended WA state border closure, but stopped short of the sort of outright criticism previously levelled at states over hardline border policies.

Queensland has delayed the return of its school year by two weeks; though New South Wales and Victoria are both planning to welcome students back in the coming weeks.

There are 63 people with Covid-19 in hospital in the territory, including six on ventilators and one in intensive care.

The Australian Capital Territory recorded 666 new cases of Covid-19, two-thirds of which were from rapid tests.