Why Perth’s five day ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown isn’t an overreaction

Perth and the Peel and Southwest regions of WA went into a five-day hard lockdown at 6pm local time on Sunday, after one new local COVID-19 case was detected in the state.

The new case is a male security guard who was working on the same floor as a person in quarantine with the UK coronavirus variant.

Contact tracing is underway, and residents have been asked to get a COVID-19 test if they visited any of several venues listed as potential exposure sites.

The lockdown is currently scheduled to last until 6pm on Friday 5 February, although Premier Mark McGowan has not ruled out extending the restrictions if necessary.