Western Australia has recorded another 2,270 new COVID-19 infections overnight, three days after the state finally reopened its borders.
It's the fourth consecutive day cases have reached beyond 2,000.
There were no deaths due to the virus overnight, and no people in intensive care.
26 people remain in hospital due to COVID-19, down two people from yesterday.
There are 12,260 active cases in the state, including 1,070 in regional WA.
7,953 PCR tests were undertaken yesterday, while 866 people reported a positive result from a rapid antigen test.
Case numbers in 'exponential phase'
Case numbers have grown rapidly since WA recorded its first day of triple-digit case numbers on February 16, with hospitalisations following suit.
Professor of international health at Curtin University, Jaya Dantas, said the state could see exponential growth in case numbers for the next two to four weeks.
“We are in the exponential phase — the Friday before last it was a little over a thousand [cases], on this Friday it was over 2,000,” she said.
Professor Dantas said there could be temporary plateaus in case numbers, but they would continue to grow and were likely to peak in 10 to 20 days.
But she said the restrictions and public health measures in place in WA could see that peak reached earlier.
“We are in a much better position to flatten the curve earlier than our eastern states,” she said.
“We might hit our peak earlier rather than later.”
Professor Dantas urged the government to put more resources into analysing the condition of positive cases.
“How many of these [hospitalisations] were vaccinated with two doses, three doses, or unvaccinated?” she said.
"Out of the case numbers that have been identified, how many are asymptomatic, how many have mild symptoms?"
COVID-19 environmental impact assessed
Environment Minister Reece Whitby announced the cases at a government press conference on Sunday morning.
He urged people to dispose of masks and other COVID items correctly, so they id not end up in the bushland.
"I see them on the street, in the bush ... If you're doing the right thing by wearing it do the right thing by disposing of it."
Mr Whitby said he planned to order a review of the waste that had resulted from the pandemic.
"We know there are millions of [rapid antigen tests] being made available to the community and … masks and other protective equipment and protective clothing," he said.
"But, there is an issue with the extra litter that potentially could bring.
"I might actually ask my agency to get in touch with health to see if there's more that can be done in terms of the disposal of that material."
Clean Up Australia chair Pip Kiernan told ABC Radio Perth surgical masks could take up to 450 years to break down.
"Hopefully, Western Australians can learn from the rest of the country about how to do it better," she said.
"Because we haven’t done it very well in other parts of the country, they are everywhere ... it is a real litter problem."
