COVID-19: Bunbury records two new cases, both close contacts of workers from Kemerton lithium plant

Bunbury has recorded two new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, both related to the cluster at a Kemerton lithium plant. The two new cases were both close contacts of workers at the site. It takes the total number of cases in the South West to 19, since the first positive result related to Albemarle’s lithium plant, just over 20km north of the South West City, was revealed on Monday. It come as WA recorded 10 new local cases in total, as well as two cases related to travel. No new South West exposure sites were added to the Healthy WA website on Thursday, but a host of new locations were listed on Wednesday, including the popular Treendale Farm Hotel, Australind Shopping Centre, Bunnings Australind and two locations in the heart of the Bunbury CBD. Officeworks Bunbury and the Bunbury Post Shop were both added, becoming the second and third CBD locations to be added after Jo’s Curry House. Anyone who shopped at Officeworks between noon and 12.15pm on Friday, January 21, should monitor for symptoms, while anyone who visited the Post Shop on Wednesday, January 19, between 11.30am and 12.30pm must get tested immediately and isolate until they receive a negative test result, unless they have received an exemption from the Department of Health. Anyone who visited the Bunbury Aero Club between 3.45pm and 4.45pm on Saturday, January 22, is asked to monitor for symptoms, and to get tested and isolate if symptoms develop. The Bunbury Post Shop has been closed since Tuesday. The same applies for several locations in Australind, including the Australind Shopping Centre on the corner of Old Coast Road and Paris Road between 11am and 11.30am on Friday, January 21, Bunnings Australind between 4.45pm and 5.15pm on Thursday, January 20. Visitors to the BP Service Station on Old Coast Road, across from the Australind Shopping Centre, between 4pm and 4.15pm on Thursday, January 20 are also being asked to monitor for symptoms. The South Western Times revealed on Wednesday that four of the Kemerton lithium plant contractors who tested positive for COVID earlier this week were quarantining at Footprints Resort in Preston Beach. “Monday morning we were notified people were coming back from Kemerton with positive cases, they arrived at various stages and they have been in their rooms ever since,” Footprints Resort general manager Peter Burke said. “The police have been here to check on them, and that’s where we stand, we just have to wait for them to get retested.” The Australia Day public holiday coincided with a massive fall in SafeWA check-ins — dropping 41 per cent Statewide to 1,289,548. It was also a slower day for vaccinations, with just under 10,000 administered across the State.