Health officials have said Australia’s efforts to flatten its curve is working – however have also cautioned everyone against complacency, or relaxing social distancing rules.
On 7th April, 2020, Australia had 5895 confirmed cases – of them, 2,432 have recovered and 46 have died. According to health officials the rate of new cases fell to three percent over the weekend. On Sunday, only 139 new cases were reported.
“That is probably the lowest rise we’ve had for a few days and it does tend to continue the trend we’ve seen of flattening of the curve,” Australia’s chief medical officer Professor Brendan Murphy said.
He added: “We’re increasingly confident that if people continue to adhere to what we’ve been asking them to do we can prevent a situation like we’ve seen in many other country of the world.”
In Australia, almost 300,000 coronavirus tests have been carried out. Strict social distancing measures are also in place. Australians are not allowed to leave their homes without good reason or gather in groups of more than two, although households are exempt.
Fines are being issued by the police for those who flout the regulations.
Murphy also said “he remained concerned about community transmission, which accounted for 10% of cases in Australia”, highlighting upon the importance of continuing to enforce strict social-distancing guidelines.
