Coronavirus WA: Six more crew members on Al Kuwait live export ship test positive for COVID-19

WA has seven new cases of COVID-19, including another six crew members from the Al Kuwait live export ship.

It brings the total number of infected crew to 12 out of the 48 who were on board when vessel sailed into Fremantle last Friday.

The seventh new case recorded on Thursday was a traveller who had returned from overseas. They were already in hotel quarantine.

Three of the infected Al Kuwait crew were still aboard when they returned positive tests and they were today transferred to hotel quarantine.

The other three crew were already in quarantine after they disembarked on Wednesday.

Another two crew were being taken from the ship and put in quarantine as they had “significant contact” with their infected colleagues.

The 10 crew remaining on the ship have been swabbed and all those in hotel rooms would also be tested.

There were now 18 active cases in WA, with one recovery overnight. There were no confirmed cases in Perth hospitals.

It comes as Mark McGowan said WA would remain in a state of emergency while thousands of Australians overseas continue to come home.

The Premier said there were more than 16,000 Australians overseas who wanted to return and emergency powers were needed to put them into hotel quarantine.

He cited the family of four from Victoria who flew into Perth on a flight from Doha who earlier this week tested positive to COVID-19.

Mr McGowan was forced to backtrack after he wrongly claimed the Federal Agriculture Department had not warned WA there were sick crew on the vessel before it arrived in Fremantle.

Health Minister Roger Cook said teachers with no symptoms of the virus could be eligible for swabs as part a testing blitz of healthy frontline workers which began on Thursday.

Healthcare workers, police officers, meat workers, supermarket and retail staff and hospitality employees who are asymptomatic can be swabbed for the next two weeks.

Mr Cook said a decision on whether to include teachers would be announced on Friday.

Health teachers were to be tested as part of study at 80 schools and education centres, but the program has yet to start due to the ethics approval process.