Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt declares Australia is officially flattening the curve and the “road out” of the pandemic will soon follow.
After days of a sustained coronavirus growth rate of just under two per cent, Greg Hunt said “we are now seeing consolidation of the flattening of the curve”.
“This is a cause for real hope and real aspiration – we said at the start that we would get through this, we are getting through this,” he said.
“What we want to do now is to, in particular, consolidate the containment, we want to work towards an effective eradication.”
It came as Mr Hunt announced a further $3 million in funding for faster and better COVID-19 treatment.
“We have been planning the road out (of the pandemic),” he said.
“So, now we have come from the road in, which has been the rapid escalation of measures, which has put us in as strong a position as any country. We’re currently on the road through.
“But over the weekend, over the last week, throughout the course of this week, we’re actively planning that road out.”
Research gets a funding boost
The $3 million in research was shared between the Doherty Institute and the University of New South Wales and will fund several projects.
One of them will investigate whether CT scans can be used to find out more about COVID-19.
But most of the funding, about $2 million, will bolster the Australian Partnership in Pandemic Preparedness For Infection Diseases Emergencies.
This will look into preparedness for future communicable disease outbreaks, while also investigating how someone becomes immune to COVID-19 and which anti-viral treatments – if any – are effective.
Doherty Institute Director Professor Sharon Lewin said there were already 300 clinical trials into different anti-viral treatments.
“I’m quite optimistic we will have results at least – whether the results will be good or not so good – from many clinical trials in the next few weeks,” she said.
“The timeline for anti-viral drugs and knowing whether they work or not is much shorter than for vaccines, because these studies are using existing drugs. So we know their safety, we know how to use them, we just don’t know if they lead to clinical benefit.”
Behaviour over Easter long weekend praised
Mr Hunt said Australians had “responded magnificently” to the warnings not to travel over the break and continue exercising social distancing.
“I said before this weekend that Easter could be the most important weekend in our fight against the coronavirus,” he said.
“Australians have done what we had hoped – and more. They have stayed at home, they have self-isolated, they have responded with the best sense of Australia imaginable.”
Mr Hunt confirmed transport movements were below 13 per cent over the Thursday, Friday and Saturday of Easter.
“That’s below 13 per cent of the average movements for this time in an ordinary year,” he said.
“That means that Australians are making a difference, they are saving lives and protecting lives with their own actions – staying at home, maintaining the distance, responding to the requests.
“I couldn’t be more impressed, more honoured, and more heartened by the work of Australians over the Easter weekend.”
National deaths now over 60
Mr Hunt confirmed the death toll stood at 61, while more than 200 remained hospitalised.
“Sadly 61 Australians have lost their lives,” he said.
“In terms of our hospitals and our ICUs, there are 238 patients as at 6:30 this morning were in hospital. 81 are in intensive care, and 35 on ventilators.”
However, more than 3,338 Australians have now officially recovered from coronavirus, which Mr Hunt stressed more than half of those who had contracted the condition.
“These numbers have reduced and now stabilised,” he said.
“That’s a very important sign for the future, all of this is an indication that we are making real progress.”
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