Mr McGowan said it was "widely acknowledged" at today's emergency National Cabinet meeting that WA is in "a very different position" compared to other states and territories. 

"While WA has agreed in principle with the changes to testing and close contacts, these new settings will only be implemented in Western Australia at a later stage," he said.

"To be clear, the settings agreed at National Cabinet today are for jurisdictions with a high caseload environment.

"With thousands of daily cases (in other states), Western Australia is not in that position. 

"That is accepted and understood at National Cabinet and therefore WA will continue with our existing testing, isolation and close contact settings for the time being."

The Premier said if the state needs to move to the national settings, that is what they will do.