Western Australia has recorded more than 100 locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 for the first time during the pandemic, as an outbreak of Omicron rapidly escalates.
There were 115 local cases recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm Tuesday night, along with 13 travel-related cases, after 7,938 PCR tests were conducted at state-run clinics on Tuesday.
Four of the new cases announced on Wednesday were the result of self-reported positive Rapid Antigen Tests.
It comes after 48 local cases were recorded on Tuesday.
The state is now dealing with 444 active cases of COVID-19.
Premier Mark McGowan said he understood one of the new cases to be that of a prison guard.
ADF outside Perth nursing home
Meanwhile, Australian Defence Force personnel have been stationed outside the Juniper Cygnet aged care facility in Bentley, following a COVID-19 outbreak at the home which has so far infected 10 residents and four staff members.
"Juniper welcomes the support provided by the Australian Defence Force. Additional assistance on the ground is extremely appreciated and helps provide reassurance and comfort to our residents and families," Juniper CEO Chris Hall said in a statement.
In a statement, the ADF said six of its members were currently stationed at WA aged care homes, with a further 200 standing by to assist as required.
Temporary gazebos have been erected and what appears to be a mobile screening facility.
Signs on the facility's doors stated there was no entry permitted to the "green zone".
Two other aged care centres in Mandurah are also dealing with outbreaks of COVID-19.
WA hard border concerns dismissed
In late January Mr McGowan cancelled his plans to reopen the state on February 5, citing the threat from Omicron and the state's low triple dose vaccination rate.
He has yet to give a new date for the hard border to come down but said on Tuesday an announcement on a new date would be made before the end of February.
Asked whether the case numbers in WA now made the state's hard border redundant, Mr McGowan dismissed the suggestion.
"Our third dose vaccination rate is 53 per cent, so we're trying to get that up," he said.
"The infection rate in the eastern states is many thousands of cases each day, so dropping the border at this point in time would just mean that we infect hundreds or thousands of new cases in Western Australia whilst out third dose vaccination rate is not high enough.
It comes after Jetstar cancelled a number of interstate flights from Perth Airport until March.
"Obviously, the border issue will resolve in due course, I'm disappointed Jetstar have done that, I've received no advice personally about those matters," Mr McGowan said.
The Premier was pressed on how much prior notice the public would be given before the border comes down, but would not provide any detail.
At the time he announced the cancellation of reopening plans, he said the decision would be reviewed by the government over the coming weeks.
"We'll wait until the outcome of that review and then we will give that decision," he said.
Lack of date an 'insult'
Opposition spokeswoman for health Libby Mettam labelled the Premier's refusal to say more on when he will announce details on the border as 'arrogance'.
"The drip feeding of information to the WA public is basically an insult," she said.
"Particularly when we are not given any indication of the modelling or what is making up those decisions."
"The McGowan Government are yet to come clean on the Omicron modelling amidst a chorus of concerns raised by health professionals regarding the impact that this could have on our most vulnerable."
WA reached a second dose vaccination rate of 95 per cent on Wednesday in people aged 12 and older, while the first dose rate is 98.6 per cent.
Mr McGowan pointed to WA's vaccine mandates as the cause for the high vaccination levels.
"Had we not mandated vaccines — in an environment where there has been very few outbreaks and those outbreaks were of a very small duration and with very few cases — we would be languishing now with perhaps a 70 to 80 per cent vaccination rate," he said.
"And therefore, lots more people would have died, so we did the right thing to preserve life, the health, and the jobs of Western Australians."
The state's third dose rate has now reached 53.3 per cent.
Vaccine mandate protests continue
It follows an eventful first day of Parliament for 2022 yesterday, which ended with Legalise Cannabis MP Sophia Moermond being suspended from Parliament until at least August 10.
It came after a motion was passed requiring all MPs to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a valid exemption, which Ms Moermond refused to do.
The only other MP to refuse to publicly reveal his vaccination status was Liberal MP Nick Goiran, but he has not been suspended which means he is either vaccinated or has a valid medical exemption.
Mr Goiran argued against the motion during debate and said he was "pro-vaccine" but also supported "medical privacy."
Fellow upper house MP, the Greens' Brad Pettit, criticised Mr Goiran for abstaining from voting on the motion.
"I think if you're going to have a strong view like that then the right thing to do is actually back it in with a vote," he said.
"It's important that we are principled on these matters and be consistent.
"I don't actually agree with Nick's take on that, but I respect it and I think it should have been backed in with a vote."
Anti-vaccine protesters who on Tuesday gathered outside of Parliament chose to protest outside the ABC's Perth newsroom on Wednesday.
Health survey delayed
The government is also facing questions after it postponed an annual survey of more than 50,000 health staff for this year, known as the Your Voice in Health survey.
"The WA health system is focused on preparing for and responding to the growing COVID-19 community outbreak," a spokeswoman for WA Health said in a statement.
"It is with these operational priorities in mind that the 'Your Voice in Health' staff survey has been deferred in 2022."
"The decision to defer was made in order to maximise participation from health staff. The original timing coincided with the expected surge of COVID cases in our hospitals."
The spokeswoman said staff were encouraged to continue to provide feedback through existing channels and that staff culture and wellbeing was taken seriously.
Australian Nurses Federation state secretary Mark Olson told ABC Radio Perth ANF members were disappointed the survey had been deferred at a time when it was as important as ever.
"It's had a high participation rate and I think this would have been a bit of a morale booster if they had allowed the staff to express their views," he said.
He said these types of surveys were a way to prevent things descending into the strike action seen in Sydney this week.
It comes as emergency department nurses at Fiona Stanley Hospital were told not to book any leave until the end of May unless there were 'exceptional circumstances.'
Mr Olson said a further burden on morale at that same hospital was a lack of parking and he said nurses were fed up with driving around for up to an hour to find a spot.
