WA Health Minister Roger Cook warns football matches, concerts, schools and public transport could be shut down if coronavirus takes hold in Western Australia

Football matches, concerts, schools — even public transport — could be shut down if the potentially fatal coronavirus takes hold in Western Australia, Health Minister Roger Cook has warned. Mr Cook said today the WA Government, fresh from looking at the ability of the State’s health services to deal with large numbers of cases, was now planning what actions it would take to protect people getting infected in crowded areas if COVID-19 took hold in the State. Closing schools and cancelling concerts and football matches would be part of that planning. Although stressing there was no need to panic, he said WA had to be ready as the disease spread throughout the world. He said WA Chief Health Officer Andrew Robertson had powers, in a declared public health state of emergency, to cancel events and other gatherings, and close schools. His powers also extended to the use of vehicles and quarantining people. “We can compel people in relation to a whole manner of things if it comes to a public health crisis,” Mr Cook said. Mr Cook’s comments came as WA Sports Minister Mick Murray this week warned of the unthinkable — the AFL grand final being played in an empty stadium if the coronavirus spread. “We have done a lot of planning in relation to the health sector and the health services,” Mr Cook said. “Now, the (Commonwealth) Government has announced we are on a pandemic footing, we have to look across the entire activities of government to work out what we now need to do to protect the community. “That includes schools, public transport, large work places, large gatherings such as crowds as sporting events and things of that nature to make sure we have got plans in place to ensure those situations don’t exacerbate the outbreak of the virus. “You could look at situations where large sporting events are cancelled, or festivals are cancelled “You could also look at events where schools are closed just to avoid transmission of the virus. “We can’t sugar coat this. This is a dangerous situation. We are on pandemic footing. “We hope we don’t come to those scenarios, but we have to plan in case we do.” Australia has 25 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Here in WA, A 78-year-old man and his 79-year-old wife are the only two confirmed coronavirus cases. They tested positive after being on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan. Both are in Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, with the man in intensive care. A relative of the woman is understood to have visited her wearing personal protective equipment. “The husband remains in intensive care,” Mr Cook said. “That is more of a precautionary measure over the long weekend. “He continues to be in a serious, but stable condition. “The virus impacts on the lungs, but the measure to put him into ICU was just to make sure that over the long weekend if his condition deteriorates he is in the best possible care. “We don’t have any concerns at this stage. (The man’s wife) remains in negative pressure isolation. “The information I have is that she is very comfortable.” Prime Minister Scott Morrison this week put Australia on pandemic alert as the coronavirus spread well beyond China. Mr Murray said the cancellation of the AFL grand final or it being played in an empty stadium was “something you would wish would never, ever happen”. “But if you have a virus like that, you can’t have 100,000 people mixing — if you get too many people with it (coronavirus),” he said. “One hundred thousand people mixing — the next week you’d have 10,000 people with a problem.” Mr Cook stressed WA — and Australia — was so far nowhere near needing to take those drastic steps. “But obviously we need to plan and the community would expect us to plan on the basis of worst-case scenario to ensure we can take every measure necessary to protect the WA public,” he said.