Western Australia has recorded 17,033 new cases of COVID-19, prompting the Australian Medical Association (AMA) to "beg" for some restrictions to be reintroduced.
Wednesday's tally was a 40 per cent jump from Tuesday's figures, bringing the total number of active cases in the state to 68,893, with 275 in hospital.
“The numbers in hospital we expect will rise, but [are] certainly well below what was modelled,” Premier Mark McGowan said.
Mr McGowan also highlighted the rates at which unvaccinated West Australians were being hospitalised, making up 27 per cent of hospital patients over the last fortnight, despite accounting for only about one per cent of the population.
Currently, about one in every 40 West Australians are in isolation with COVID.
Mr McGowan said about a third of those were under the age of 19, accounting for about 24,000 people.
A further three deaths have been recorded, bringing the death toll since the start of the year to 161.
Wednesday’s three deaths date back to May 6 and include a man in his 70s, a man in his 80s and a woman in her 90s.
WA health system under pressure
The state's health workforce is continuing to feel the impact of those high case numbers, with 2,252 staff currently furloughed.
"It is difficult to deal with that situation ... so the hospital system will continue to feel pressure because of that," Mr McGowan said.
Mr McGowan said Thursday's budget would be proof WA was funding the health system better than any other state or territory in Australia.
"But those issues are difficult to resolve and every state in Australia is going through exactly the same thing, most of them worse than us."
He said the state's Chief Health Officer, Andy Robertson, would continue to monitor case numbers and furloughing, and that reducing elective surgery was one option to free up staff.
When Dr Robertson provided his advice to the government on reducing restrictions, he warned cases could increase but Mr McGowan said he was not given a range of how big that jump could be.
The Premier again said the key figures to watch were hospitalisation and ICU admission rates, which can lag behind case numbers by up to two weeks.
AMA calls for return of indoor mask mandate
The return of mask mandates is not currently on the agenda, according to Mr McGowan, but he has not ruled out the possibility it could happen in the future.
But the AMA's WA president, Mark Duncan-Smith, wants to see a return of the indoor mask mandate after being "staggered" by Wednesday's case count.
"I can see where this is going and it scares me greatly."
Dr Duncan-Smith's biggest concern was whether there would be enough staff to cope with further pressure on the health system, with hospitalisation numbers expected to rise next week.
"It will take a week before any restrictions that are introduced now will have any effect at all," he said.
"And in the next week, the medical system and the health of West Australians is incredibly vulnerable."
Labor to rush planning bill through parliament
It comes as the government tries to use its majority to rush a second bill through the state's lower house.
In a matter of hours on Tuesday, the Legislative Assembly passed an extension to pandemic powers under the Emergency Management Act, which is now before the upper house.
On Wednesday, a bill was "urgently" introduced to reopen an approval pathway for "significant projects" until the end of next year.
The streamlined planning approval system was originally introduced to give the construction sector a boost in the early stages of the pandemic.
The bill will also allow developers of some projects to apply for an extension to the date by which they have to begin construction.
Planning minister Rita Saffioti said it was originally planned that the Part 17 pathway would be replaced by an assessment panel considering 'special matters' by the end of the year.
But she said further consultation was needed to address concerns in that new process, and so the previous pathway would be reopened.
Ms Saffioti said it was also necessary to extend the time frame of some projects under Part 17, because the same opportunity had been given to projects approved through other schemes, as a result of supply chain and workforce pressures.
Opposition slams 'shameful' process
The push to rush the bill through was swiftly criticised by Liberal leader David Honey.
"It's a shameful process, a cynical process," he said.
But the leader of the government in the house, David Templeman, said it was necessary to try to pass the bill on Wednesday.
"I'm sure all of us agree we don't want to see a stall in our economic recovery, we want to make sure we continue to have a robust pipeline of work," he said.
"There are time issues associated with the passage of this bill, and that is why it has been declared urgent."
