After a National Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has spoken on Australia’s road to recovery in a press conference.
Economy
The Prime Minister says that the Government has received extensive briefings which they have reinforced to The National Cabinet, outlining the need to synchronise health and economic responses to the virus and understand the impact on each.
The unemployment figure that was based on the middle of March is also set to see a dramatic change as restrictions were only modest at the time.
The Prime Minister warns that as a country we set for sobering news on the economic front in the coming months.
The G20 meeting last night outlined the $8 trillion that has been put into the government fiscal responses to COVID-19 so far.
The G20 nations are also moving to provide reliefs and deferrals for loans in developing countries such as Papa New Guinea. These payments are to be deferred until the end of year.
The Prime Minister says that relative stability will depend on continuing to achieve a stable health outcome and that Australia is well placed on that economic front.
Health Statistics
Noting the positive statistics in COVID-19 cases and the data showing more than half who has contracted the virus in Australia has now recovered, the Prime Minister says that we are in the suppression stage.
The National Cabinet has agreed today, on basis of AHPPC advice, that firstly more extensive surveillance testing regime is required. Beyond just those that are symptomatic.
Ensuring that we have an even greater tracing capability than we currently have and the need to lift that to an industrial capability by using technology.
Dr. Brendan Murphy also says that with less than 50 new cases per day over last few days, we have a very small number of community acquired cases where a source is not known and the curve continues to flatten.
The Prime Minister also says that the modelling is based on real Australian data and that tracking has moved to “nowcasting” instead of forecasting, where the effectiveness of current measures are tracked, so responding to future changes is handled better.
He says that all States and Territories have a high symptomatic case detection rate at around 92%.
He also says that if distancing restrictions are to be relaxed in the next four weeks, then the public health response needs to get even stronger.
Schools
On the topic of schools, the Prime Minster has once again said that it is a State and Territory issue as State schools are run by State governments.
He also says that teachers are more at risk in the staff room than in the classroom and therefore need to have measures in place for protection.
Upcoming Phase
The next four weeks and beyond will see Australia to move into a new phase, with a trial week of Parliament in May, to return to normal business.
As the current situation shows Australia to be in a positive place, it is likely that Parliament will meet again on a regular basis.
However, the Prime Minister also notes that looking at the experiences overseas, if Governments ease off too quickly from restrictions, the situation can be made worse.
More to come.
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