By Amy Remeikis
New South Wales chief medical officer says 231 people are now being treated for Covid-19, with 20 in intensive care. Follow live
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11.47pm BST
Australia has undertaken the suppression method with this pandemic. Lately though, as cases continue to drop, the word ‘elimination’ has started to drip through press conferences. Scott Morrison has said that elimination may be one of the side effects of the suppression strategy.
Dr Nick Coatsworth says he is sticking with the word ‘suppression’.
I’m using the word “suppression”, and I’ll tell you why I’m doing that. The problem with using words like “elimination” and “eradication” is that we are a non-immune population. So, you have to be so sure that you’ve got to that point that you would need to extend your restrictions for so long to get to that point, that I think that that would, you know, lead to Australians having to be under social restrictions for too long to get there. That’s an honest view. If, in the process of suppressing, we get to the point of eradication, then that would be a magnificent outcome. But we must continue to build capacity and we must continue to contain the virus, and remember that we’re not immune from it. So, the word that – the strategy that we’re using is to “suppress” Covid-19 until there’s a vaccine.
11.42pm BST
The deputy chief medical officer, Dr Nick Coatsworth, has had a chat to the ABC this morning about loosening restrictions.
May 11 is the date circled in the calendar at the moment. If the rate of infection stays at where it is (at around 1%), then the current restrictions will be stepped back.
All sorts of considerations are on the table. Easing social restrictions would, by definition, mean that some of those numbers could change. It does depend, of course, as you have said in your questions, what happens in the next three weeks. But all range of options are on the table.
Businesses and individuals need to prepare, though, that physical distance from one another will need to keep going. Great hand hygiene and cough etiquette will need to keep going, because we won’t have a vaccine. So, whilst some restrictions may be lifted, the way we behave has to stay the same.
