Western Australia has reported 26 new local cases of COVID-19, with one other case still under investigation.
Key points:
- The number are down from Friday's, but are widely expected to rise
- The government is looking at further COVID restrictions
- The AMA is urging it to look to South Australia's example as guidance
The source of six of those cases is not yet clear.
There were an additional 22 cases from returned travellers.
The number of local cases is down from the 51 reported on Friday, which was the biggest number of cases in WA in the pandemic so far.
But the number of people tested on Friday was very low.
Earlier in the week testing numbers were close to 15,000, but that fell to about 1,600 on Friday.
Case numbers expected to rise
Police Minister Paul Papalia said despite Saturday's fall in numbers, the government was expecting case totals to keep increasing.
"Omicron is here and it is only going to grow in numbers, there will be more cases and increasingly higher numbers," he said.
Mr Papalia claimed case numbers would already be much higher had the border opened, as previously planned, a week ago.
"Had we not had our borders closed we would be at thousands of cases a day right now — possibly tens of thousands," Mr Papalia said.
"That is what happened in Sydney and Melbourne and Brisbane when they opened.
"We are protecting vulnerable people and giving them an opportunity to get a booster."
The overall growth in case numbers in recent days has prompted the Australian Medical Association to again call for additional restrictions to be imposed to slow the spread of the virus.
Premier Mark McGowan said on Friday that extra restrictions, on top of the existing mask mandate, would be considered over the coming days.
On Saturday, Mr Papalia on flagged the possibility on density limits at venues.
"As case numbers increase dramatically, you take measures to lessen that impact on the health system and other services," he said.
"We will do other things, potentially things like capacity limits, as they're needed.
"There is no nirvana where you get through Omicron without having to have a degree of restriction on activity, you do the best you can to reduce the impact."
WA urged not to follow lead of NSW
AMA national president Omar Khorshid said WA needed to look at the South Australian approach of ensuring significant restrictions were in place early in an outbreak, to slow the spread.
"Without masks and without social distancing, it spreads incredibly fast, doubling every couple days," Dr Khorshid said.
"We saw in New South Wales, the very late reintroduction of masks and social distancing led to very rapid spread of COVID… the AMA would very much prefer we follow the lead of South Australia rather than New South Wales."
When additional restrictions were previously in place over the festive season, bars were forced to operate as seated service only venues and nightclubs were required to close.
Opposition health spokeswoman Libby Mettam said the uncertainty over looming restrictions was causing "unnecessary chaos".
"What we do need is some clarity on what the path forward is," Ms Mettam said.
"It is essential that whatever these plans are that they are made very clearly and communicated appropriately to the community so we know what's happening next."
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Western Australia records 26 new local COVID-19 cases, with the source of six still unclear - ABC News
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