Coronavirus: Job type key for who goes back to work

Unlocking social restrictions will focus on wider COVID-19 testing, improved tracing measures and better surveillance of potential outbreaks.

Australians will have to wait for some time before they can attend nightclubs or music festivals, the chief medical officer has warned.

Australia’s path to unlock social restrictions will focus on wider COVID-19 testing, improved tracing measures and better surveillance of potential outbreaks, as governments work with employers and unions to prepare for a partial return of workers through roster rotations.

The National COVID-19 Co-ordination Commission is working to assess the ability of some sectors to ­implement workplace responses incorporating social-distancing rules.

Workers in the construction, infrastructure, office-based and manufacturing sectors were considered the most likely to benefit from the next COVID-19 phase, aimed at unlocking parts of the economy.

The services, hospitality and tourism sectors are viewed as more challenging workplaces to adhere to social-distancing measures likely to remain in place until a vaccine is found.

The national cabinet meeting on Thursday will discuss updated data to help inform leaders on the next steps towards scaling back ­social restrictions.

Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy, who labelled Australia’s response to the pandemic a “very aggressive suppression strategy”, said he could not envisage the ­reopening of nightclubs and music festivals in the foreseeable future.

“There will always need to be some degree of physical distancing because unless you’re absolutely, completely confident about your borders and your testing and surveillance, I don’t think you can relax a measure of distancing,” Professor Murphy told the New Zealand parliament’s epidemic ­response committee. “I’m not convinced that until we get a vaccine we’ll be able to relax some of those distancing measures.”

The Australian understands some states were considering, subject to health advice, lifting social restrictions in regions not impacted by coronavirus in a bid to stimulate local economies. Border controls are likely to remain in place.

Professor Murphy said any relaxation of Australia’s stage-three shutdown measures could only occur if governments were confident they had good public health response systems so outbreaks and clusters that might ­appear “can be aggressively locked down”.

That included strict contact tracing, such as through the development of apps, a well-trained health workforce of several thousand Australians and a good supply chain of test kits with a broad testing regime.

“We think we’re some weeks away from being in that position,” he said.

Scott Morrison confirmed on Tuesday his top priorities were getting Australians back to work and school, rather than being ­social. The Australian understands the Prime Minister is ­focused on injecting some normalcy into the economy to ensure as many Australians as possible can receive an income throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Any easing of social restrictions — such as allowing people to ­gather in larger groups or eat at a cafe or restaurant — is considered more dangerous and has resulted in outbreaks overseas.

“Getting the economy back to a position where it can support more and more people is vitally ­important and getting schools ultimately back to a position which is more usual, I think that is vitally important,” Mr Morrison told Sunrise.

“But the broader social restrictions that are in place, these things are incredibly important to stay on top of the virus. But there’s the other side of this, and that is to continue building up our health response capabilities.”