Former deputy chief medical officer Dr Nick Coatsworth warns there will be a risk of deaths despite backing border timeline

One of Australia’s top infectious diseases experts has joined the chorus of calls on Australia’s international border but it comes with a warning.

One of Australia’s top infectious diseases experts has joined the growing chorus of calls for a timetable on Australia’s international borders as the Prime Minister continues to dig in his heels.

Former federal health official Dr Nick Coatsworth gave a frank assessment of life in a COVID-19 world in an interview with ABC News Radio’s Drive program on Tuesday, saying there will be a risk of Australians dying if we open borders.

The issue has been a major talking point for all sectors across the country after the federal budget last week predicted Australia’s international borders would remain largely closed until mid-2022.

It seems a growing topic of frustration for many Australians, as business groups openly push for more answers from the federal government and experts and tourism operators warn that the country must move towards a COVID-19 world and think about opening up.

Dr Coatsworth said Australia “needs to begin a conversation” on borders, suggesting a “staged, cautious approach, rather than opening like an iron door, opening or closing”.

The infectious disease physician and former deputy chief medical officer told the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas on Tuesday afternoon that Australia “should be prepared to test our health care system, to really test our public health system”, in 2022.

He was hesitant to open borders earlier than next year, though, “when we’ve got significant numbers vaccinated” and “we will have access to ICU beds”.

“There will be a risk of people dying from COVID-19 if it’s circulating in our community,” he warned.

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Former deputy CMO Nick Coatsworth has warned people could die if borders open and COVID-19 is still circulating in our community. Picture: Daniel Pockett

Dr Coatsworth reassured that “what we know from the studies from what our intensive care specialists did in 2020 is that when Australians get to intensive care beds, their mortality from COVID-19, the chance of them dying, is far less than anywhere else in the world because we’ve got such a good system”.

In stunning results, the latest Newspoll showed 73 per cent of voters believe the border should remain shut until at least the middle of next year or until COVID-19 is under control globally.

Only 21 per cent of people said the opening of the international border should align with the completion of the vaccine rollout across the country.

It comes a day after another of Australia’s top medical experts, President of the Australian Medical Association Dr Omar Khorshid, backed the growing calls to open international borders while issuing a warning that no matter what happens, “COVID is coming”.

Dr Khorshid said Australia has been in a “bizarre little bubble” considering our low virus case count in comparison to the rest of the world, likening the country to a “gilded cage”.

He warned Australians were becoming complacent and should be thinking, “how are we going to get out of this”, instead of relying on the fact the country is relatively COVID-19 free.

Calls are growing for Australia’s international borders to reopen, with experts likening the country to a “gilded cage”. Picture: Gaye Gerard

Despite Prime Minister Scott Morrison facing pressure in the week since the budget to work on a timeline, he is refusing to budge – warning it is “not safe” to reopen.

Earlier Tuesday, Mr Morrison slammed Virgin Australia chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka for saying Australia’s borders needed to reopen even though “some people may die”.

He was defiant in keeping the borders closed, warning: “I‘m not going to take risks with Australians’ lives.”

Yet Dr Coatsworth agrees with experts, saying Australians need to think ahead even after the vaccine is administered.

“When we are fully vaccinated what risk appetite are we going to have?” he said.

“What I guess I’m worried about is that we’ve created with our success this deep risk aversion to COVID-19 which won’t necessarily be a valid position to base our policy on when we’ve got a majority of Australians vaccinated.

“That’s why I think the conversation best (be) had now before we want to open international borders in a staged approach in 2022.

“The message to Australians is that this is a different disease when you are immune to it, the amount of protection you get from immunity and vaccination is very, very significant.”

Dr Coatsworth had formerly made the bold claim that Australians could not continue to live in a pandemic “eliminationist bunker” and said that the full eradication of the virus was a “false idol”.

“It is clear we will not have our borders closed indefinitely,” he said speaking at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeon’s annual scientific meeting.

“We will not have quarantine stations in perpetuity while we aim for the false idol of eradication.

“At a point in the future when a significant majority of our community is vaccinated, there will be pressure to open our borders. We must not resist that. In fact, when the time is right, we should be leading the calls for it.”