A former Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Australia told Oliver Peterson on Perth Live that there’s no need for the WA Government to stop taking elective surgery bookings.

The Health Minister has announced that non-urgent elective surgeries will now continue until mid-March. Bookings were due to be paused from the end of this month to prepare for a surge in Omicron cases. Private hospitals will stop taking bookings from March 21.

Dr Nick Coatsworth told Oliver Peterson that he didn’t understand the decision by the WA Government.

“It’s very difficult to know why you would stop elective surgery with no cases in ICU. We have one hospital, Oly not several major hospitals, one,” he said.

Dr Coatsworth said that people could have COVID fatigue over low testing numbers and scaled back exposure sites.

“If people are fatigued, let’s show the way forward. Let’s not say that we’re going to open the borders with a couple of days notice. That’s the first time I’ve heard that from any first minister in Australia,” Dr Coatsworth said,

“Every first minister had a plan to do that and stuck to that plan except for one.”

Press PLAY to hear Dr Coatsworth’s thoughts on the latest COVID cases