Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says his country will need to get used to the restrictions needed suppress Covid 19. Photo / David Gray; Getty Images
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says his country will need to get used to the restrictions needed suppress Covid 19. Photo / David Gray; Getty Images
As lockdown looms over New South Wales and Victoria struggles to contain new outbreaks, the Prime Minister of Australia warned nothing will change anytime soon.
Speaking to the ABC on Tuesday night, Scott Morrison said Australians should get used to life as it is right now – restrictions included.
He said the future under efforts to suppress the coronavirus means "keeping the discipline".
"It means keeping health system support in place … maintaining the testing regime. It will mean … the wearing of masks. It means it hasn't gone anywhere and we can't live like it has."
The interview also touched on what Australia might look like moving forward under a suppression strategy.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned that NSW still has the opportunity to "isolate the cases that we have and to make sure we reduce the incidence of the virus spreading".
NSW Health has issued a public health alert to Port Stephens residents, after a man in his 60s who visited the Salamander Bay Shopping Centre on July 15 tested positive to coronavirus.
Hunter New England Local Health District is urging anyone who visited the centre on that day to watch for Covid-19 symptoms and get tested should any respiratory symptoms or fever occur, a statement said.
A man gestures with his arms crossed at the Flemington Public housing flats. Photo / Getty Images
The source of the man's infection was a visitor from Sydney.
"Anyone in the general Port Stephens area with symptoms of Covid-19 should seek testing," the statement said.
"If you were at the Windsor Castle Hotel in East Maitland on the evening of July 13 or Salamander Bay Shopping Centre on July 15 you may be at risk of infection and you must be tested for Covid-19 even if you have the mildest of respiratory symptoms," said Dr David Durrheim, public health controller for Hunter New England Health's Covid-19 response.
"Anyone with cold or flu-like symptoms such as fever, sore throat, cough or shortness of breath, is urged to get tested.
"Even those with mild symptoms such as fatigue, new muscle aches or pains, a change in taste or smell or a new runny nose are encouraged to arrange testing," he said.
Meanwhile, there were 374 new cases in Victoria on Tuesday.
People line up at a pop-up Covid 19 testing facility in the Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows. Photo / Getty Images
Three more people died in Victoria as the state faced its second-worst day of the pandemic with 374 new cases.
Deputy CMO Michael Kidd says the number of new Covid-19 cases in Victoria aren't "dramatically increasing".
"We would like to see those numbers start to come down over the next few days or weeks but at the moment they're not continuing to escalate," Kidd said.
The debate around the wearing of masks also continues, as experts encourage people in NSW to wear them in public.
Workers in PPE gear arrive at the Towers Government Housing complex in Melbourne. Photo / Getty Images
Additonally, six Victorian prisons are in lockdown after an officer working at the Ravenhall Correctional Centre tested positive for coronavirus.
In a statement, Corrections Victoria said Hopkins Correctional Centre, Langi Kal Kal, Barwon Prison, Fulham and Loddon would also be locked-down while the officer's contact with other staff and prisoners was traced.
"The Department of Health and Human Services have been notified and contact tracing is currently underway, with impacted staff and prisoners being notified."
"In line with Corrections Victoria's coronavirus management plans, a number of measures have already taken place, including placement of potential prisoner contact in quarantine units, contact tracing and thorough cleaning."
