Western Australia has recorded a new peak in the number of people with COVID-19 in hospital, although the total amount of new cases has dipped slightly after yesterday's record high.
WA Health has reported 9,328 new cases, down from the 10,182 on Thursday, which had been the most yet since the start of the pandemic.
It was also the first time the state had seen more than 10,000 new cases in a single day.
But there are now 282 people with the virus in hospital, including nine in intensive care.
That is 11 more than was reported yesterday, with the peak doctors' group already warning it was the key figure and reflected the increasing strain on the health system.
Health system 'barely coping', nurses warn
The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) said the health system was "barely coping with the current workload" and staff were "overstretched and burnt out".
ANF state secretary Mark Olson said the government needed to bring back some restrictions when the number of COVID-19 hospitalisations reached 300.
But Premier Mark McGowan maintains the state has done better than expected and numbers are still below predicted modelling, due to its high vaccination rate and delayed border reopening.
Furloughing emphasises WA's need for workers: CCI chief
Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief economist Aaron Morey said businesses were coping well with the higher number of people with COVID-19.
"As cases rise, we'll see more incidents of staff being unable to come to work. That, of course, will put some pressure on local businesses," Mr Morey said.
But he said the WA economy and the business community are in a good position going forward.
Lifting the mask mandate had led to a burst of activity in the city, he added.
The peak business groups wanted extra workers brought in from overseas to help businesses cope with staff shortages from the virus.
"It really does make it apparent how important it is to bring in workers from overseas to Western Australia," Mr Morey said.
"WA, more than anywhere else, relies on bringing workers into our state."
Punters unfazed by rising COVID cases
Despite the rising case numbers, more West Australians had started going to hospitality venues, Bradley Woods from the AHA WA said, and the problem for venues was now to find enough staff.
"The pressure on the industry at the moment is becoming intense," he said.
"We need to focus on finding new workers, more people to work within the hospitality sector — part of that will come from West Australians moving into the industry, part of it will also come from people moving from interstate and overseas."
Mr Woods said the government should do more to attract young people to train and work in WA hospitality and tourism as well as to attract more workers from interstate and overseas.
"We need to partner with organisations like Tourism Australia who are doing major international campaigns encouraging people to come and live and work in Australia and WA needs its fair share of that as well."
He said it was good to see more patrons returning to venues.
"People are becoming accustomed to the fact they need to be careful and cautious when they're out and about, even in hospitality environments and that's just part of the way of living with COVID."
The government said WA had now reached an 80 per cent third dose vaccination rate.
The rise in cases had been predicted, with the Chief Health Officer warning it would occur because of the easing of restrictions, including WA's mask mandate — a move made at the end of last week.
There are currently 48,834 active COVID cases in Western Australia and overall 433,295 cases since the pandemic began.
