By Tony Royden
Australian cases of Covid -19 has dropped, but concern remains about the rise in the number of coronavirus cases without a known source, as they tightened internal border controls.
Several states in Australia have set up checkpoints at their borders to prevent all none essential travel from neighbouring territories, in a radical move that has not occurred in the country for over a century.
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia are trailing other countries but exceed 5,000 nationally, with daily increases in new cases falling to single digits over the past several days from between 25% and 30% two weeks ago. There have been 26 deaths. Australia’s concerns of unknown sources of local transmission of Covid 19 continues to bother them greatly
“If we can’t identify the source it means we can’t deal with the spread – that is something we’re worried about,” according to New South Wales (NSW) state Premier Gladys Berejiklian(pictured) However, Covid 19 cases have been dropping in Australia, but the government is determined to keep numbers low. Even accounting for transmissions coming from inbound travellers, the mystery of where the continued spread is coming from is a concern researchers say can be explored through a process of elimination.
NSW, reported just 91 new cases overnight, the first time the number of cases has gone below 100. It is one of several states to give police the power to impose hefty fines and potential prison terms on anybody found breaching strict social distancing rules, including restrictions on leaving home and reducing public gatherings to just two people.
Neighboring Queensland state erected water barriers and road checkpoints on Friday, with other states taking similar measures. The iron ore-rich state of Western Australia is enforcing a “hard border close” from Sunday night.
Western Australian authorities are restricting access to and from the northern Kimberley region, a remote indigenous population with very limited health services. Australian prime minister has asked all visitors a d tourists to go home. He said ”now is the time for them to leave so officials can focus on supporting Australians in need”.
In the meantime, Australian’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, has urged patience with tough social distancing measures, saying they must be in place for at least six months. Over 5300 Australians have caught the virus, while around 650 have recovered and just 28 people are dead. Morrison said the number of new cases could have been for worse but for social distancing measures, but has increased by an average of just seven per cent a day, compared to around 25 per cent last week.
“That is a tribute to the work that has been done by Australians in getting around and supporting the very sensible measures that have been put in place all around the country by the state and territory governments,” Mr Morrison said on Friday.
“Doesn’t matter what the temperature is, if it’s a warm day, don’t go in masses down to the beach,” Mr Morrison said.
“That’s a simple instruction that all Australians expect other Australians to abide by.”