Coronavirus Australia live updates: Chief medical officer urges more Aussies to download COVIDsafe app
Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy says there's one key to inspiring "confidence" in the country's leaders when it comes to easing restrictions.
Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy says downloading the COVIDsafe App will inspire "confidence" in the country's leaders to ease lockdown restrictions.
Speaking at a press conference today, Mr Murphy said the more Aussies who download the app released last week, the greater likelihood of restrictions easing soon and Aussies finally being able to enjoy a beer at their local.
He said an increase in download numbers will give leaders "confidence" to be more "bold" in easing restrictions.
His comments come ahead of a National Cabinet meeting on Friday in which leaders are slated to discuss lockdown restrictions that have been in place for over a month.
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"The more people that download the app, the more confidence the National Cabinet will have about that one aspect of our preparedness that we're still a little bit anxious about — the capacity to really get on top of contacts as soon as possible," Mr Murphy said.
"The more confidence they can have, the more bold they might be."
More than 4.25 million Australians have downloaded the COVIDSafe App since it was launched a week ago.
The app is designed to give state and territory health officials the ability to identify people who might have come into contact with a person who tests positive to coronavirus with ease.
Mr Murphy said the government's strategy would be to take "cautious gentle steps" with regards to easing lockdown restrictions, to avoid a second outbreak of the deadly virus.
Easing of restrictions is likely to happen in stages, with weekly re-assessments along the way.
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Australia has now recorded 6801 cases of COVID-19, with 3031 in New South Wales, 1384 in Victoria, 1035 in Queensland, 438 in South Australia, 551 in Western Australia, 223 in Tasmania, 106 in the Australian Capital Territory and 29 in the Northern Territory.
The death toll stands at 95.
Our live coverage for Sunday has now closed.
Originally published as Coronavirus Australia live updates: Chief medical officer urges more Aussies to download COVIDsafe app