Nationwide restrictions on movement and business could be eased as soon as next week, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison declaring Australians have "earned an early mark" in the fight against coronavirus.
Key points:
- National Cabinet will consider easing restrictions one week ahead of schedule
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Australians have "earned an early mark"
- A key consideration at next week's meeting will be the download rate of the coronavirus app
Mr Morrison said National Cabinet would bring forward a key meeting on relaxing Australia's coronavirus restrictions to next Friday, a week earlier than scheduled.
But he again tied the relaxation of restrictions to downloads of the Federal Government's COVIDSafe app, saying "millions more" Australians needed to sign up.
"Australians have earned an early mark through the work that they have done," he said.
"That decision will now be made next Friday, and we'll be meeting twice over the course of the next week to ensure that we work through the many things that have to be resolved in order to make those decisions."
Mr Morrison said a Treasury briefing to National Cabinet today had underscored the impact restrictions were having on the economy.
"We need to restart our economy, we need to restart our society," he said.
Mr Morrison would not be drawn on which restrictions may be eased, though it remains likely barriers to international movement will remain for some time.
"We'll be looking at all the matters that are currently subject to restrictions, and we'll be reviewing that and making decisions about which are the ones we can move on," he said.
"That'll be a welcome relief for the community. [For] the economy to move to a higher gear, that's what we want to see happen.
"I'm not going to flag any particular ones at all, it's important that the National Cabinet consider that on the best possible medical advice."
Want to go to the pub? Download the app
The Prime Minister said 11 out of 15 conditions set by National Cabinet for easing restrictions had been met.
"Of those that remain outstanding, there was one that Australians can do something about, and that is downloading the COVIDSafe app," he said.
"This is a critical issue for National Cabinet when it comes to making decisions next Friday about how restrictions can be eased."
Mr Morrison said more than 3.5 million Australians had downloaded the app, but there would need to be "millions more".
When asked how soon Australians could go back to the pub, Mr Morrison replied that the first step would be to download the app.
Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said the 15 conditions considered by National Cabinet ranged from hospital surge capability to sentinel testing to detect coronavirus spread in the community.
But he stressed the importance of bolstering the app's download numbers.
"The methodology is really up to speed except for one thing — except for the app uptake," he said.
"That's not green at the moment, as the PM has said, we need the app uptake to be higher before we can say that that final piece in the jigsaw puzzle of contact tracing is there."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA1LTAxL25hdGlvbmFsLWNhYmluZXQtY29yb25hdmlydXMtcmVzdHJpY3Rpb25zLWNvdWxkLWVhc2UtbmV4dC13ZWVrLzEyMjA1MzA00gEnaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEyMjA1MzA0?oc=5
2020-05-01 06:52:47Z
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