Updated April 21, 2020 15:52:51

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced elective surgery restrictions will start to be eased after this weekend.

National Cabinet, which includes Mr Morrison, premiers and chief ministers, has decided to lift the restrictions, imposed last month, following a briefing from health officials.

IVF, joint replacement, cataracts, breast reconstruction and dental procedures are among those that will be able to take place following the Anzac Day long weekend.

Elective surgeries were cancelled last month to free up beds amid fears the coronavirus would overwhelm the hospital system.

The decision has been reversed following a decline in the spread of the disease and the arrival of millions of face masks and other items of personal protective equipment (PPE).

"This will not mean an immediate return to normal with elective surgery, but a gradual restart, subject of course to capacity and other constraints that may exist in each jurisdiction," Mr Morrison said.

The Prime Minister, speaking at 1:30pm AEDT, said there were now fewer than 2,500 active cases of people with coronavirus in Australia.

In other points from the wide-ranging press conference:

• 517,000 JobSeeker claims have been processed since March 16
• National Cabinet is concerned at reports people in aged-care homes are being stopped from having visitors
• The 4 square metres per person rule does not apply to classrooms
• National Cabinet has offered in-principle support for a coronavirus tracking app

Surgery rules to be reviewed again in May

The elective surgeries that will begin again are all category two procedures, and some in category three.

The category three procedures include colonoscopies, endoscopies, and post-cancer treatments.

Breaking down the latest news and research to understand how the world is living through an epidemic, this is the ABC's Coronacast podcast.

"All measures will be further subject to review on May 11 to determine if all surgeries and procedures can then recommence more broadly," Mr Morrison said.

"We estimate that this will lead to a reopening of around 25 per cent of activity in elective surgery in our private and public hospitals."

Australia has received 60 million face masks in recent weeks, 22 million of which have already been distributed. A further 11.5 million face masks will go to health professionals in the next week.

Another 100 million masks are set to arrive within six weeks.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said more than 3,200 ventilators had been delivered in the last week, half of which were made in Australia.

Those deliveries take Australia to 7,500 ventilators across the country.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Brendan Murphy said the resumption of category two and some category three elective surgeries would ensure people could receive much-needed non-coronavirus treatment.

"One of the things that has concerned the health profession generally during this pandemic has been the lack of attention to non-COVID-related medical conditions," he said.

Dr Murphy hit back at the suggestion that elective surgeries were not important procedures.

"It is incredibly important. Some elective surgery is life saving. It really means all surgery that's not urgent," he said.

"Some people are seriously disabled with hip and knee problems. Some people can't see because of their cataracts.

"Some people need surgery and have been waiting for it and this is an opportunity in a safe and controlled manner to slowly restart."

Topics: government-and-politics, infectious-diseases-other, federal-government, health, respiratory-diseases, covid-19, community-and-society, australia

First posted April 21, 2020 13:36:04