The Department of Health says more businesses and premises are to be required to maintain contact registers for the Department’s COVID-19 contact tracing.
The Department said the additional businesses included retail venues, certain types of commercial transport, takeaway services, certain outdoor functions and gatherings, and visitors at all private and public hospitals
Businesses already using their own QR code must also display the SafeWA QR code.
Minister for Health, Roger Cook said that with new, more infectious strains of COVID-19 occurring around the world, and cases of the highly infectious variant strains already entering the State’s hotel quarantine system, these changes were essential.
“This expansion follows a review of WA’s contact register system which has been in place since 5 December as a precautionary measure,” Mr Cook said.
“In other jurisdictions in Australia, substantial outbreaks of COVID-19 cases were linked to businesses such as retail outlets and takeaway venues.”
He said that at the moment hospital visitors could attend unannounced and anonymously, which in the event that contact tracing was required would be difficult and challenging.
“Therefore, the expansion will also stipulate that all hospitals, public and private, will be required to maintain a contact register system,” the Minister said.
SafeWA is the Government’s free contact register app, which is a secure and efficient way to check-in via a QR code.
More than 1.1 million Western Australians and 32,000 businesses have already downloaded SafeWA, and there have been more than 20 million check-ins with the app since its launch.
SafeWA can be downloaded from Apple App Store or Google Play Store and more information can be found at this PS News link.
