Coronavirus: ‘End in sight’ but don’t make plan to celebrate at the pub

Premiers have warned tough social-distancing measures will remain in place for at least another three weeks.

People gather to exercise on Narrowneck Beach on the Gold Coast. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Premiers have warned that tough social-distancing measures will remain in place for at least another three weeks, despite Australia’s mainland ­recording just eight new cases of coronavirus on Monday.

And any eventual loosening of bans next month is unlikely to include pubs, restaurants and mass gatherings, the leaders said.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Queensland counterpart Annastacia Palaszczuk indicated Tuesday’s meeting of national cabinet would involve discussion of which restrictions could be ­lifted.

Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory had no new COVID-19 cases on Monday, with Victoria and the ACT confirming just one each and NSW six.

Tasmania, which is battling a cluster linked to two hospitals in the state’s northwest, recorded nine new cases.

Mr Andrews said the stable numbers gave Victoria and Australia “options”, signalling his state might lift some social-­distancing measures when a declared state of emergency lapses on May 11.

“National cabinet tomorrow is going to have a discussion about some of the prerequisites for relaxing many of the rules,” he said.

However, Mr Andrews said some countries had ­relaxed rules too quickly.

“We’ll get there faster if we just keep following the rules … That gives us some options,” he said.

“We can properly, in a cautious way, examine those ­(options) in the weeks and months ahead, and then we can potentially make some changes.

“I just want to make it clear though, the notion that pubs are opening any time soon, it’s not going to happen. Restaurants, bars, cafes, I just don’t think that’s going to be; the risk will be far greater than any reward. I think there are some areas we might be able to make some changes around the way people interact with others, around some of those more social measures.”

While Ms Palaszczuk said if the near-zero case numbers continued for weeks, the state could look at relaxing restrictions, Health Minister Steven Miles and Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young urged caution.

“We’ve seen in other countries reductions to near-zero levels of cases, and then a second wave of infections, so we need to be very cautious, we need to keep up our current approach, but if we can sustain this, then the end is in sight,” Mr Miles said.

Ms Palaszczuk declined to nominate which restrictions would be lifted first.

But the decision to close schools to all but the children of essential workers will be reconsidered in five weeks, and some areas of the state have recorded no cases of the virus at all, so action could be taken in those regions first.

“Nationally, we’re also looking at what restrictions can be lifted, recognising that some states will be able to lift restrictions before other ones,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“This is the first day of zero, but if we saw a trend of these really low numbers I think it’s only right that people would be saying to government, ‘what can you do to make our lives a little bit easier, and a little bit less restrictive?’.”

It is understood rules preventing the public gathering of more than two people are likely to be relaxed first, along with the reopening of national parks and playgrounds. But the strict rule prohibiting more than 10 mourners at funerals is likely to hold fast, because they are considered “high-risk” events, with people travelling long distances and then unable to maintain a safe distance from other mourners.