News Link: Australia Has No Covid Cases For 28 Days-Lockdown Pays Off – By MK (Editor)
Australia will be among a handful of western nations that can look forward to Christmas with limited restrictions on family gatherings and what authorities are calling a Covid-normal summer.
The state at the center of Australia’s worst coronavirus outbreak has gone 28 days with no new cases of the virus. An enviable record as the US and many European countries grappled with surging infections or renewed lockdowns.
One of the world’s strictest and longest stay-at-home orders for Victoria to crush community spread. Early August, it was about 700 cases per day. The success means Australia will be among a handful of western nations that can look forward to Christmas with limited control.
The 28-day run is “an extraordinary achievement psychologically as well as practically, in terms of opening up the economy.” Sanjaya Senanayake, an infectious diseases physician and associate professor of medicine at the Australian National University in Canberra said. But there’s no room for feeling relaxed, he warned. Australia faces an ongoing risk of the virus entering the community from returned overseas travelers, despite a mandatory system of hotel quarantine.
“The reality is, no matter how careful people are, there can always be that accidental breach. A breach where you can’t even identify the source,” Senanayake said.
More than 30,000 Australians, many living in Europe and the US where the virus is rampant, are waiting to return home.
While 28 days with no mystery cases of Covid-19 is the working definition for removing community spread.
“Now is not the time to sit free,” Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said in a statement. “Recent waste water testing shows there may still be virus in people. A real risk remains with arriving inter state travelers or the start of new local cases. Our fight against Covid-19 is not over.”
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News Link: Australia Has No Covid Cases For 28 Days-Lockdown Pays Off – By MK (Editor)
