Australia expects to lift lockdown restrictions soon thanks to just 4 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours

Australia is expected to lift lockdown restrictions soon as only four new Covid-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours.

THE country’s Deputy Chief Medical officer, Professor Paul Kelly, said that the “promising numbers had led the government to consider easing strict lockdown measures within just three weeks.” Only four new cases were reported “since three o’clock yesterday afternoon,” he stated yesterday (Wednesday). “There may be more later, but we certainly appear to be flattening that curve very successfully at the moment.”

Professor Paul Kelly attributes the rapid flattening of the curve in the country since mid-March to widespread testing, the tracing of carriers, self-isolation of those at risk and strictly-enforced social distancing rules. The decision to restrict travel so early on also played a huge role in the country being able to combat the disease, according to the country’s heath expert.

In early February, Australia banned the entry of foreign nationals from China and ordered citizens returning from the country to self-isolate for 14 days. That rule was extended to anyone entering the country on March 15. Shorty after that, on Friday March 20, Prime Minister Scott Morrison closed the country’s borders. Morrison and Professor Kelly believe that the country’s fast response to Covid-19 and the lockdown restrictions have helped to prevent tens of thousands of infections.