Health Minister Roger Cook says the state is well placed to deal with COVID outbreaks, and at this stage there are no discussion about pushing back the state’s reopening date.

WA will reopen its borders to double vaccinated interstate and international travellers at 12:01am, Saturday February 5.

But recent surges in COVID cases in New South Wales and Victoria, largely due to the heavily mutated Omicron strain, have raised questions on what impacts that will have on WA’s health system.

“We are still learning what the full implication of what Omicron means for our community,” Mr Cook said on 6PR Mornings.

“Everyone’s talking about the 5th of February, we’re all looking forward to that date.

“But we’re going to be dealing with this disease for a number of years yet, and that’s why we need to have long term strategies, long term investment in our health system, to make sure we can continue to respond.”

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