Western Australia may lift coronavirus restrictions within weeks

Western Australia is considering lifting its Covid-19 restrictions within weeks and allow social gatherings, schools and businesses to go back to normal.

The state has the second lowest number of Covid-19 cases in Australia, with only five new cases registered on Wednesday.

Premier Mark McGowan said the state had “driven it down to being nearly non-existent”. 

“We've got to work out how we get our economy back up,” he said.

“You're just constantly looking at what the angles are, what the options are, what the potential pitfalls are.

“But it's a very serious game of chess because people's health is at risk.”

Curtin University epidemiologist and pro-vice chancellor of health sciences Archie Clements said a phased approach to relaxing restrictions was most likely.

“That will be things like rather than having businesses closed, they might reopen things like restaurants but with a lower density of patrons,” he told Daily Mail Australia.

“They might allow small community events to take place. And then I think it will be allowing things like schools to go back, and I'm hoping that will be sooner rather than later. 

“All in all, we've probably avoided the worst of the epidemic and I think with the current numbers it's likely that the epidemic will peter out in WA.”

Sheridan Randall, 16^th April 2020