A leading Perth doctor says Western Australia should expect more COVID-19 stricken ships to land on our shores, as the pandemic continues to rage around the world.

The BBC California docked at Fremantle this morning after its captain issued an urgent medical request.

Seven out of 14 crew members are presenting with coronavirus symptoms, and health worker will board the ship to test them.

Australian Medical Association WA spokesperson Dr Andrew Miller told Liam Bartlett WA health authorities have a duty of care to look after sick crew members.

“We are going to have to expect this more and more as the pandemic enters its third and fourth wave around the world,” he said.

“If they turn up sick here we’ve got to take care of them.

“We should at this stage of the pandemic have safe enough systems, procedures, PPE everything in place to deal with what is a handful of people who are sick.”

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(Photo: Nine News.)