Doubts raised about Mark McGowan's reasons for delaying Western Australia ...

Questions have been raised about why Mark McGowan chose to delay opening Western Australia's borders.

The WA Premier on Thursday sensationally axed his vow to reopen his state to the rest of the country on February 5, with no date now set for free travel to resume.

Mr McGowan credited the Covid situations happening on the east coast of Australia for his reasoning, while claiming the decision was backed by the Australian Medical Association.

However, there appear to be inconsistencies with his reasons behind the move which has been widely criticised by many around the country.

The AMA were forced to reveal they did not support the decision after Mr McGowan said it was 'endorsed' by the organisation.

AMA WA president Mark Duncan-Smith has since called on the premier to urgently set a date for when the borders would finally open up.  

'AMA WA does not believe that an open-ended delay is good for any individuals or the psychological wellbeing of our society,' he told The West Australian.

'We call on the Government to set a date so that there can be a degree of certainty within this uncertainty and so that people at least have a hope and a direction.'

He said the 'surprise' decision would leave the community divided and said the government should instead impose harsher restrictions.

'Many of our front-line members are relieved, including our GPs, that more time will be available to prepare. Many other of our members are bitterly disappointed and angry about the decision, with their focus on being able to rejoin and be with their loved ones,' Mr Duncan-Smith said.

The decision to hold off reopening was also slammed by the Australian president of the Australian Medical Association Dr Omar Khorshid. 

'Gutted ... seems Mark McGowan is a one-trick pony when it comes to Covid-19,' he said on Twitter.

'This decision should be acknowledged as a failure by the WA government to prepare and a broken promise.'

Dr Khorshid said WA could not stick its head in the sand, with an outbreak in the state inevitable. 

Another reason Mr McGowan credited for the border opening delay was the amount of deaths being recorded in neighbouring South Australia. 

'South Australia had 11 people die today, back when they opened they were COVID-free like us, so that's the sort of thing we're doing our best to avoid,' he said.

But SA Premier Steven Marshall said the 11 deaths announced on Thursday were possibly a backlog.

The state's Chief Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said it was possible the 'unusually high number' of deaths had been accumulated over several days. 

'There is no urgent reporting requirement from residential aged-care facilities into SA Health related to COVID, and so sometimes there's a bit of a

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