Australia, don’t go anywhere anytime soon: Scott Morrison today warned we have at least another four weeks of strict lockdown restrictions, even as rates of confirmed coronavirus cases slow.
Addressing media on Thursday afternoon, the Prime Minister we’re looking at restrictions continuing until mid-May – at least.
“We want to be very clear with Australians, baseline restrictions we have in place at the moment, there are no plans to change those for the next four weeks,” Morrison said.
“I think it will be some time. I think social distancing, the washing of the hands, the doing of those things, that is what we should do until we find a vaccine.”
However, the one area they will be looking at more quickly is in elective surgery, which the government will examine next Tuesday.
Morrison also provided more detail on the “three conditions” Australia needs to meet before lockdown restrictions are relaxed at all – and which Health Minister Greg Hunt spoke about over the long weekend.
Condition One: Increased Testing (Or “Sentinel Testing”)
“If we are to move to a different phase when it comes to the restrictions, we need an even broader testing regime than we have at this point,” Morrison said.
Essentially, the government needs to be confident that if they relaxed lockdowns, and if Australia saw another COVID-19 breakout, then they could test and trace the disease. Fair enough.
Condition Two: Rapid Response Capability
In other words, the government wants you to download the controversial tracking app when prompted. Australia needs to “make sure we have an even greater tracing capability than we have now”, Morrison said, while calling state governments “Sherlock Holmes” for their tracing capabilities. (It’s not the best analogy but sure, why not. Just call him Dan ‘Sherlock Holmes’ Andrews.)
“We need to lift [current tracing] to an industrial capability and do that using technology, and we need to do that as soon as we possibly can, and we will be needing the support of Australians,” Morrison said.
“If we can get that in place, get the tracing capability up from where it is, that will give us more options and Australians more freedoms.”
You can read about the app here.
Condition Three: Local Response Capabilities
Basically, it needs to be dead certain that local, state and federal agencies can quickly work together to contain an outbreak wherever it may occur. Morrison pointed to the current outbreak in north-western Tasmania as an example, with the Australian Defence Force working quickly with state authorities to contain the outbreak.
“And there will be other outbreaks, in other parts of the country, and in all states and territories we need that ability to move very fast to be able to lock down an outbreak where it occurs and make sure it does not transmit more broadly within the community,” Morrison said.
Once these three conditions have been met, then Australia will look at relaxing lockdown measures. The national cabinet will be using the next four weeks to get them in place, but don’t hold out hopes for a mid-winter party. Life is unlikely to return to ‘normal’ until we find a vaccine.
