Greg Hunt welcomes lowest day of coronavirus infections in weeks

Greg Hunt issues a warning ahead of the Easter long weekend as nation records lowest day of infections in weeks.

Health Minister Greg Hunt. Picture: Gary Ramage

Australia has had its lowest daily rate of coronavirus infections in more than three weeks, as Health Minister Greg Hunt declares this Easter will in many ways be “the most important” weekend we face in combating the disease.

There are now 6068 Australians who have contracted the coronavirus and 51 people who have died.

Mr Hunt said there had been a “genuine consolidation” of the virus, with just 96 new cases in 24 hours.

“This is the first time in over three weeks that fewer than 100 people have been added to the list of those with coronavirus. That's an exceptionally important development for Australia. Fewer cases, fewer risks, fewer lives at risk. But we've got a long way to go,” he said.

“We still have a huge task. As we head into Easter with welcome, good news for Australia, the virus does not take a holiday, therefore none of us can relax in what we do.This in many ways is the most important weekend we may face in the whole course of the virus.

“If we can lock in the gains that we've made as a nation through the courage and sacrifice of those on the health, medical and policing front lines, but also through the immense goodwill and discipline of Australians, then we can help really protect Australian lives going forward and give ourselves the pathway through.”

Mr Hunt said Australians’ decisions this weekend could either help save a life or “inadvertently risk a life”, as all governments and the medical community urge people to stay at home to protect others.

Deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth said it was entirely possible to begin unwinding social distancing restrictions while suppressing the coronavirus but acknowledged the government’s first objective was to save lives.

The so-called exit strategy or “road out”, which will see shutdown measures gradually lifted, would need to be “very, very nuanced and carefully thought out”.

“We have 6000 patients' worth of data at the moment to get our own impression of how the epidemic is tracking within our community,” Dr Coatsworth said.

“Once we feed that into our modelling, which as we stated will be available as and when it's ready in the coming weeks, that is one of the contextual elements that allows us to determine which restrictions to lift and in what order to do so.

“The suppression strategy needs to be sustainable in the medium term while we work at things like when a vaccine becomes available, while we bring new molecules online to be able to treat the virus.”

Mr Hunt pledged to take “slow, careful steps” to ease social distancing measures over the next six months.