Western Australia's newly-established regional checkpoints could become a place where people are being inadvertently infected with COVID-19 if frontline personnel do not practise strict physical distancing measures or wear enough personal protective equipment (PPE), a public health expert has warned.

Key points: A public health expert says WA's new regional checkpoints could spread COVID-19 if health risks were not managed properly

A public health expert says WA's new regional checkpoints could spread COVID-19 if health risks were not managed properly The WA Government says checkpoints 'don't serve as a health clinic' but are for police to validate travellers movements

The WA Government says checkpoints 'don't serve as a health clinic' but are for police to validate travellers movements Approximately 13,000 people have been vetted and passed through 30 regional checkpoints around the state

On Wednesday, the WA Government implemented an unprecedented ban on non-essential intrastate travel, to curb further infection in its regional communities.

Reports have emerged that some police are not adhering to 1.5-metre physical distancing and not wearing face masks or, in some cases, gloves when auditing travellers' movements.

WA Police said the health and safety of frontline staff was a priority, and its practices, which required staff to use PPE and cleaning procedures, were based on Department of Health advice.

The Department of Health's advice on standard precautions for police include hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, and environmental cleaning.

WA's State Government says the purpose of regional checkpoints is for police to validate travellers movements and enforce any penalties for non-compliance. ( ABC News: Jon Daly )

Risk of transmission

The WA Police Union has raised concerns about a lack of PPE for frontline officers.

Union president Harry Arnott said more than 100 officers have already been exposed to COVID-19 in the line of duty.

However, he said the union supported the State Government's efforts and would work with it in good faith to better protect police from transmission.

A State Government spokesperson said it had already introduced numerous unprecedented measures based on the best medical advice to restrict non-essential activities to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

At a press conference, WA Premier Mark McGowan said as of early Thursday morning, almost 13,000 people were vetted and passed through 30 regional checkpoints around the state.

"The new restrictions have gone down relatively well," he said.

"At times, it won't be perfect, and it will cause frustration, and for that I am sorry.

"Please understand we're doing this in the state's best interests."

Mark McGowan addresses a press conference on March 30, 2020, about the latest coronavirus updates. ( ABC News: Hugh Sando )

Mr McGowan also confirmed a Department of Primary Industries quarantine officer checking vehicles passing through the WA border with the Northern Territory, had tested positive for COVID-19.

WA Police Commission Chris Dawson said an unconfirmed number of police officers had subsequently been put in quarantine after potential exposure.

Health officials are also trying to trace motorists that passed through the Kununurra checkpoint and may have been exposed.

Opposition Emergency Services spokesman, Sean L'Estrange, is calling for a review of standard operating procedures, to reduce the risk of transmission between travellers and checkpoint personnel, or vice versa.

Barbara Nattabi is a public health researcher at the University of WA's School of Population and Global Health and has studied epidemiology of communicable diseases, such as HIV.

She said there was a high possibility WA's regional checkpoints could spread COVID-19 if health risks were not managed properly by authorities.

WA's regional borders have been closed to all non-essential travel, and 30 checkpoints have been set up to audit travellers. ( ABC News: Rhiannon Stevens )

"The police are at risk of contracting illness from people coming through the border, and people coming through the border are also at risk of contracting illness if, for example, a police officer has an infection," she said.

"We do not know whether or not these border checkpoints could be sources of further infection, but it is something we have to think about."

Dr Nattabi said COVID-19 infections were, at times, asymptomatic, which made detection a challenge.

Protecting police and public

Dr Nattabi said physical distancing needed to be practised, whether it was at a checkpoint or a supermarket.

Public health expert Barbara Nattabi says a lack of PPE gear at intrastate checkpoints could be inadvertently placing frontline officers and travellers at further risk of contracting COVID-19. ( Supplied: Barbara Nattabi )

Mr L'Estrange, the Opposition Emergency Services spokesman, said the State Government needed to ensure safeguards at checkpoints were fit for purpose in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It needs to be specific to combating coronavirus, so if that means, for example, some sort of Perspex shield between the operator and the person in the car, to prevent the coronavirus from being transferred, then that's something that should be looked into," he said.

Currently, travellers passing through WA's regional checkpoints are not questioned about their health status.

Dr Nattabi said authorities could also consider implementing medical checks, carried out by medical staff at regional borders.

"If people are unwell and they have COVID-19, they could inadvertently take this into the communities they are travelling into for work purposes or otherwise," she said.

A spokesperson for the State Government said the purpose of the checkpoints was for police to validate travellers' movements and enforce any penalties for non-compliance.

"The intrastate restriction checkpoints don't serve as a health clinic," the spokesperson said.

The State Government has recently expanding its testing criteria at all state-run COVID-19 clinics.

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