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Western Australia has recorded one new local case of COVID-19, which has also been linked to the French backpacker who arrived in the state earlier this month.
Key points:
- Mr Armstrong died because of a ground collapse
- Operations at FMG's Solomon Hub have been suspended
- Chairman Twiggy Forrest expressed his condolences
WA Health said the latest case attended the Perth Mess Hall event, which the unvaccinated 25-year-old attended last Sunday night.
The person also stayed at the Old Fire Station Backpackers in Fremantle, which has been linked to another local case.
The hostel was evacuated on Friday night, with dozens of backpackers moved into hotel quarantine in the Perth CBD.
A WA Health spokesperson said the latest case tested positive while in quarantine and is not considered to have been contagious while in the community.
"This brings the total number of locally acquired cases to eight," the spokesperson said.
Police charge backpacker over hotel breach
A different 25-year-old French tourist, who was among those evacuated from the hostel, faced court today after he left the hotel room he was supposed to be quarantining in.
Police said he took the lift down to the hotel foyer, where he allegedly threatened to damage property and harm security staff.
"It is further alleged when officers attended his room to place him under arrest, the man obstructed and resisted officers, yelling abuse and was required to be physically restrained," police said in a statement.
He has been charged with three offences and will reappear on January 7.
It comes after Busselton Police charged a 25-year-old woman for failing to comply with a direction to isolate after she attended the Perth Mess Hall event.
Police allege the Beaconsfield woman went to Yallingup Beach on Christmas Eve when she was supposed to be isolating until she received a negative COVID test result.
One non-locally acquired case was detected overnight in an overseas traveller who is in hotel quarantine.
There are now 18 active confirmed cases in WA —15 in hotel quarantine and three in self-quarantine.
The unvaccinated French backpacker is believed to have been infectious since December 16 and to have visited several nightclubs in the city as well as busy supermarkets in Mirrabooka.
WA health said it was working to identify more contacts and confirm more exposure sites, having so far identified 548 close contacts and 998 casual contacts.
Testing clinics around Perth were quiet, with just 3,387 West Australians swabbed at clinics yesterday.
The state's total stands at 1,143, with 1,116 people recovered.
To date, 196 cases of variant strains have been detected in Western Australia, including 118 with the Delta strain, nine with the Omicron strain, 53 with the Alpha, 15 with the Beta and one with the Gamma strain.
All cases related to this outbreak are assumed to be Delta, given that was the strain contracted by the French backpacker, who tested positive after arriving in WA from Queensland on December 12.
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