WA announces 25 new local COVID-19 cases as border eases, but many families remain separated - ABC Local

Western Australia has announced 25 new local cases of COVID-19 on the day the state planned to remove its hard border.

All but four of those cases have been linked to current outbreaks, while the sources of the other infections are still under investigation.

New COVID-19 rules come into effect today, allowing more people to enter the state on compassionate grounds.

But many families do not qualify and remain separated from loved ones interstate and overseas.

Dozens of people attended a rally on a Perth beach in support of a group called Parents are Immediate Family.

Local MP David Honey spoke in support of the protesters.

"These people are among the 30 per cent of West Australians who come from overseas and effectively they haven't been able to see their families for over two years," he said.

Local Liberal MP David Honey has slammed the government's decision to keep the border closed.(ABC News: Nicolas Perpitch)

"Here we are on this momentous day, the 5th of February … the day that [Premier] Mark McGowan promised the people of WA he was going to open the borders, that the state was ready, the hospitals were ready."

Doctor Honey said protesters told him stories about parents overseas who sold their houses and had visas to travel to Australia approved before having the rug pulled out from under them.

"What the Premier is doing, I think, is utterly heartless and cruel," he said.

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WA announces 25 new local COVID-19 cases as border eases, but many families remain separated - ABC Local
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