Easing of curbs mapped out
SYDNEY: Australia will ease social distancing restrictions in a threestep process, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday, as Canberra aims to remove all curbs by July and get nearly one million people back to work amid a decline in coronavirus cases.
Australia imposed strict social distancing restrictions in March, which coupled with the closure of its borders, are credited with drastically slowing the number of new infections of Covid19.
With fewer than 20 new infections each day, Morrison said Australian states and territories yesterday agreed a road map to remove most of the curbs.
‘‘You can stay under the doona forever. You’ll never face any danger,’’ Morrison told reporters in Canberra, using an Australian word for quilt.
‘‘But we’ve got to get out from under the doona at some time.’’
Morrison said it would be up to Australia’s various states and territories to decide when to begin implementing each stage. Each step would likely be separated by a fourweek transition.
Despite the staggered easing, Morrison warned the country should still expect further outbreaks.
Australia has had fewer than 7000 confirmed cases of Covid19 and fewer than 800 people are still sick with the disease. Almost 100 people have died.
Under the first stage of the plan, restaurants and cafes now limited to takeaway services will be allowed to reopen, but with a maximum of 10 patrons at a time.
‘‘Step 1 is tentative, baby steps into normalisation,’’ Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy told the briefing.
If no major outbreaks are recorded, states and territories will move to stage 2, where gyms, cinemas and galleries will be allowed to reopen, although businesses will be able to have only 20 customers at a time.
At this point, states that had closed their borders would start to allow some interstate travel, Morrison said.
When implemented, stage 3 will permit gatherings of up to 100 people, allow employees to return to their offices and result in the reopening of nightclubs.
All interstate travel will be allowed, along with some limited international travel, including flights between Australia and New Zealand.
International students will also potentially be allowed to return to Australia, but will face two weeks in quarantine. While the lockdown measures have successfully prevented local hospitals from being swamped by coronavirus patients, they have taken a devastating toll on the economy.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg estimated the lockdown was costing businesses $A4 billion ($NZ4.26 billion) a week.
Australia’s central bank yesterday predicted the country was facing its biggest economic contraction on record, despite pledges from it and the Government of $A320 billion to cushion the economic blow.
In its quarterly statement, the Reserve Bank of Australia forecast the $A2 trillion economy would shrink 10% in the first half of the year, marking the first recession in three decades.
Despite the Government subsidising the wages of about six million Australians that keeps them out of unemployment statistics, about 10% of the country’s labour force is also expected to be without a job this year.
Morrison, however, said once the threestage process was implemented, his Government expected about 850,000 people would return to work. — Reuters