Western Australia (WA) is divided into regions according to a number of systems. The most common system is the WA Government division of the state into regions for economic development purposes, which comprises nine defined regions; however, there are a number of other systems, including those made for purposes of land management (such as agriculture and conservation), information gathering (such as statistical and meteorological), and election for political office. The various different systems were defined for different purposes, and give specific boundaries, but although many of the different systems' regions have similar names, they have different boundaries; the names and boundaries of regions can and do vary between systems. The Regional Development Commissions Act regions The Western Australian system of regions defined by the Government of Western Australia for purposes of economic development administration, which excludes the Perth metropolitan region, is a series of nine regions. These nine regions were established by the Regional Development Commissions Act 1993, which defined their extents and established Regional Development Commissions to promote their economic development. In defining the regions, an attempt was made to capture distinct socio-economic communities. For example, the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia has an economy based heavily on mining, whereas the Wheatbelt region is economically dependent on agriculture. Inter-regional travel restrictions during COVID-19 pandemic During the Western Australian government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, travel between regionsother than between Perth and Peelwas restricted, with police checkpoints set up at the borders. Only essential travel was allowed. At some checkpoints, police were assisted by army and State Emergency Service personnel; the army did not have any authority to prosecute or arrest. Remote communities and some "biosecurity areas" had further travel restrictions due to the lack of medical facilities and number of high risk community members. Some inter-regional restrictions were lifted on 18 May, and on 5 June all regional restrictions were removed except for remote Aboriginal communities. On 31 January 2021, after a quarantine hotel security guard in Perth tested positive, a five-day lockdown, from 6pm on 31 January until 6pm on 5 February was declared. Schools scheduled to resume on 1 February were to remain closed for another week. The areas affected were: "... the whole Perth metropolitan area, the Peel region and the South West region ..." Bureau of Meteorology regions The same region names as those used by the Regional Development Commissions Act (RDCA) are incorporated into