Ankle bracelet order for COVID quarantine breach
A Perth woman has become the first to be electronically monitored after breaching Western Australia's COVID-19 quarantine rules. ABC
For the first time since the pandemic emergency powers were introduced in Western Australia, the Police Commissioner has ordered a person to wear a tracking device.
The woman, who recently returned to Perth from NSW, has been fitted with an electronic ankle tracking device after breaching COVID-19 quarantine restrictions.
The 33-year-old had been allowed to enter WA on September 1 and was ordered to self-isolate alone at her home for 14 days.
However, when police conducted a check on Thursday they found two men visiting.
The woman was issued with a $1000 fine and moved to a Perth quarantine hotel.
But after consideration of the circumstances of the woman’s breach the state emergency coordinator determined it was necessary to monitor her location during the quarantine period, police said in a statement on Saturday.
They said the monitoring device would remain in place until the end of the woman’s quarantine period.
WA Health reported no new virus cases on Saturday leaving the state’s total of diagnosed infections since the start of the pandemic at 659.
There are four active cases which were being monitored.
Meanwhile, a West Australian nurse infected with COVID-19 while helping in Victoria’s coronavirus-ravaged aged care sector said she always wore a mask and doesn’t know how she contracted the illness.
Renee Freeman, 44, travelled to Melbourne to help but instead became a patient.
“I always wore the proper (personal protective equipment) for the duration of my work placement,” she wrote in a statement circulated by WA’s health department.
“There will never be a way to tell who I caught this virus from or how but I can assure you it was not caught through lack of PPE usage.”
Thousands of Victorian COVID-19 cases have been linked to aged care, with both residents and healthcare workers infected.
Ms Freeman penned her statement in Melbourne where she’s in isolation before returning to WA.
-with AAP