WA schools will have to be closed this winter, says Australian Medical Association (WA) president Andrew Miller.

The alarming statement came as WA recorded its fifth and sixth cases of COVID-19 yesterday including the state’s first instance of person-to-person transmission.

Joining three other panellists on Flashpoint last night – The West Australian and 7NEWS Perth’s current affairs panel show – Dr Miller said the global COVID-19 health crisis and the threat it posed to West Australians was anything but “business as usual”.

“It’s unprecedented ... and what causes panic is if you tell people: ‘look just carry on, it's going to be OK.’ It's not going to be OK,... this is going to be a disaster,” he said.

The comment came in response to Premier Mark McGowan’s urge for calm.

“Yes you need to treat it very seriously but you don't need to panic,” he said, citing the Education Department’s move to ban all school-related overseas travel last week and the COVID-19 clinics opening across WA today.

“If we need to close schools, if we need to make sure we delay elective surgery to free up beds for people ... that's what our planning is for.

"We are taking this matter very seriously. The Government is not underestimating this crisis.”

"We have worked constructively with the Commonwealth Government on initiatives both health and to support the economy ... (and) we look to set up more (COVID clinics) across the regions over the future.”

Responding to the share market slide yesterday and the jobs under threat across a number of industries, the Premier said he was very worried about WA’s international trading economy and asked all West Aussies to “holiday at home” and support local businesses.

Camera Icon Flashpoint panel discussing COVID-19 on Channel Seven. Credit: FLASHPOINT

“Don’t stop doing things that support our economy,” he said.

Deputy chief health officer Robyn Lawrence implored West Australians travelling overseas not to “jump on a plane and come home” if they became sick.

“Seek the medical advice of the country you're in and travel home safely when it’s safe to do so. Infecting other people is not a good outcome here,” she said.

"Risk in WA currently is low if you don't meet that criteria, but we are preparing for the impact to hit WA consistent with the rest of the world.”

Perth Airport Chairman and former Fortescue Metals Group boss Nev Power said today’s bloodbath on the markets was “an overreaction” in anticipation of the worst possible scenario.

He said people needed to be practical and reasonable while being ready to “respond quickly”.

"Panicking and selling off is not the way to do that. The danger (with that) is we create a bigger issue that what the virus was going to be,” Mr Power said.

He also reassured audiences Perth Airport would remain open amid the global COVID-19 outbreak.

"We'll be continuing to operate, however, at the same time we're putting all of the procedures in place to make sure that the risk to our staff is minimised and also the risk to travelling public, and we've got procedures in place to recover if there is any identified outbreaks,” he said.

Perth Airport yesterday revealed it had been approached by the resources sector to provide a space for medical screening equipment, such as heat sensors, to be used on FIFO workers heading to work.

"On the mine sites right now, procedures are being continually updated to make sure that every attempt is made to isolate people before they come to site and identify people with symptoms,” Mr Power said.

"Ironically on a mine site we've got good capability to isolate people … it's relatively easy actually … and we also have paramedical and medical staff on site.”

A Perth Airport spokesperson added that it was ready to assist resource sector companies should they decide to implement a screening process for their FIFO workers.

Camera Icon Perth Airport chairman and former FMG chief executive Nev Power. Credit: Michael Wilson / The West Australian

"This assistance would be in the form of provision of terminal space where the screening could be conducted. We will continue to liaise closely with the resources sector as this issue evolves,” they said.

Dr Miller claimed the images of people stockpiling on toilet paper and other products coarsing through the media was not an example of panic buying but of people “being sensible”.

"There's always a couple of bogans having a fist fight at an IGA somewhere,” he said, adding he had made “sensible provisions for a few weeks for his family” when asked if he had stocked up on loo paper.

"Of course you're going to stock up for a bit. There's 50 million people in China who have been locked down for six weeks, are you saying that can't happen here?

"It's not a racist virus, it affects everybody.”

But leading cardiologist Ross Walker said the response to coronavirus was over the top, calling it “almost like a viral Y2K”.

He pointed out that influenza affected 250,000-600,000 people annually and had killed 10,000 people in the US since January 1.

"That's much more than the coronavirus,” Dr Walker said, claiming that the virus was likely to die off in the coming months as the northern hemisphere heated up.

It prompted Dr Miller to hit back, calling Dr Walker a mere “talking head” anyone could find when looking for an opinion that differed from the experts or “who thinks they know about this when the world has never seen this before”.

"The Italians are not stupid people, the Chinese are not stupid people, neither are the South Koreans, and the mortality rates we're seeing in the elderly population … Look I hope he's right and someone can throw a cream pie at me after this, but all the evidence we have and the scientific consensus is that this is very real,” he said.

"This is terrifying in an economic sense.”