Add Category
The number of Australians to have recovered from COVID-19 has surpassed 6,000, Health Minister Greg Hunt has announced, leaving fewer than 800 active cases of the virus around the country as it moves towards easing restrictions.
Key points:
- There are 771 active COVID-19 cases in Australia
- Health Minister Greg Hunt expects a "road map" out of current restrictions to be released tomorrow
- Of the 18 new cases of COVID-19, just four came from outside Victoria
Cases continued to fall across Australia yesterday, except for in Victoria, where a cluster linked to a meatworks in Melbourne's west is causing an uptick.
Over the most recently recorded 24-hour period, 18 new cases were reported, with just four cases outside the state of Victoria.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said of the 6,891 cases to have been confirmed, 6,023 had recovered. Taking into account 97 deaths across the country, that leaves 771 active cases in Australia.
"I'm delighted that for the first time we have passed more than 6,000 cases of people that have cleared the virus," Mr Hunt said.
National Cabinet will tomorrow meet to determine whether some restrictions can be eased, but Mr Hunt said hygiene and social distancing measures would remain for some time.
"Whilst we may take steps cautiously, gradually to reduce and decrease the isolation, we will have to maintain our distancing and hygiene," he said.
"These are not polite things to do, they are life-saving, necessary measures."
Mr Hunt said he expected stages to be developed in tomorrow's crucial meeting that would allow states and territories to progress work on relaxing restrictions.
"Then each state will be able to judge … their own circumstances and readiness to go to easing restrictions."
He said spikes like those seen in Victoria and Newmarch Aged care home in Sydney were to be expected as restrictions eased.
"That's why our testing, our tracing and our public health responses and our immediate rapid response capability are so critical and are being put in place," he said.
Mr Hunt also announced 40 million more masks would be released from the national medical stockpile to frontline health workers.
