‘We should have been ready’: Perth mayor suggests WA wasn’t prepared for COVID-19

Perth’s lord mayor says the city is in a “state of disbelief” as it endures a five-day lockdown.

Residents in Perth, and WA’s South West and Peel regions, had just four hours notice before they went into lockdown at 6pm Sunday.

It comes after a hotel quarantine security guard, who also worked as a rideshare driver, returned a positive COVID-19 test.

There is concern he is infected with the more virulent UK strain of the virus.

Lord mayor of Perth, Basil Zemplias, says residents “probably weren’t as prepared as what most people thought we could have or should have been”.

“In some quarters the suggestion was that we should have been ready for something like this and should have been able to track and trace much quicker,” he told Ross and Russel.

“The fact we haven’t been able to and have had to go into a lockdown suggests that perhaps the procedures and processes in place weren’t quite where we necessarily thought they should be.”

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