Declaring that Australia was on the road to recovery with new COVID-19 infections almost stamped out, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday said that hospitals would resume many elective surgeries and schools would be reopened for more children.
As part of broad social distancing restrictions, Australia last month banned all non-emergency surgeries to free up hospital beds amid expectations of a surge in coronavirus cases. Schools were also closed.
However, with infection rates falling from more than 25 percent in the middle of last month to less than 1 percent a day, Morrison said in Canberra that Australia could relax some restrictions from next week.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We are on the road back and I think we have already reached a turning point,” Morrison told reporters.
Australian Minister of Health Greg Hunt said that the easing of elective surgery restrictions was possible after authorities secured more protective and medical equipment, including a “full capacity” of 7,500 ventilators.
The expanded list of surgeries, including in vitro fertilization and joint replacements, can begin next week.
The government said it would shortly release details of a contact tracing app designed to alert users if they come into close contact with people later diagnosed with COVID-19.
Authorities believe the tracing app needs to be put in place before many services are reopened.
After more than a month of teaching children online, Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), said all students would begin face-to-face lessons next month.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said students would begin to return to school on May 11 on a staggered basis in preparation for full-time schooling to restart in July.
“It’s time to turn our mind to getting our kids back into the classroom,” Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. “We will have extra cleaning, extra sanitizer, extra health provisions, including forehead thermometers and also extra health equipment in our sick bays.”
Australia is one of the few nations to detail plans to reopen schools.
Despite sometimes conflicting advice from the federal government, which had wanted schools to remain open, children of emergency workers are among the few who have continued to go to school.
Education is run by Australia’s state and territory governments.
The reopening of schools has been a key demand of the federal government, which hopes the move would stimulate Australia’s economy and allow parents to better juggle work commitments.
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