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The imposition of two weeks self-quarantine on arrival in Western Australia will no longer be in place for those travelling from Victoria and New South Wales from Tuesday 8 December.
Announced today by Premier Mark McGowan, both VIC and NSW will be classified as "very low risk" states, meaning travellers can enter WA without needing to quarantine for a fortnight from 12.01am next Tuesday.
The move comes after VIC went 28 days with no locally acquired cases of COVID-19 last Friday, with NSW expected to reach that milestone this coming Friday.
It brings the two states in line with other jurisdictions already classified as "very low risk" including the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory.
"It has been a remarkable effort from Victoria, in particular given the position they were in just a few months ago," WA Premier McGowan said.
"It's an outstanding achievement unrivalled around the world.
"Western Australia's border controls have been highly effective in reducing the number of potential cases of COVID coming into WA."
Though travellers from NSW and VIC will no longer have to complete 14 days of self-quarantine on arrival, they will still be subject to a number of restrictions at the border.
These include arrivals undergoing a health screening and temperature test at the border, potentially completing a COVID-19 test if required by WA authorities, and completing a declaration that they do not have symptoms of the virus and detailing which jurisdictions they have been in.
As WA still has a hard border arrangement in place with South Australia, arrivals from NSW and VIC must not have been into SA for 14 days before arrival and must not have knowingly mixed with anyone from SA.
Travel into WA from SA remains prohibited until at least 11 December according to McGowan.
"The controlled interstate border is a careful and cautious approach. It faced its first test only the day after it came into effect due to the concerning outbreak in South Australia," McGowan said.
"I always said we would not hesitate to reinstate the hard border if the health advice recommended it, and that's what we did within hours in response to the situation in South Australia."
WA has also further eased restrictions today, with places of worship now exempt from the one person per two square metre rule.
WA recorded three new cases of COVID-19 today - all returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.
It has been 233 days since WA last recorded a locally acquired case of COVID-19.
Updated at 12.33pm AEDT on 1 December 2020.
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