McGowan Calls for a National Elimination Strategy to Handle the CCP Virus
Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan is advocating for the rest of the nation to follow his states CCP virus elimination strategy bringing National Cabinet’s policy of suppressing outbreaks into dispute.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday McGowan heralded lockdowns and border closures as the way forward and congratulated the Queensland government’s measure.
“The idea that you kick along with the virus and somehow that is a better model is wrong,” McGowan said.
“I just urge the New South Wales government and the people in New South Wales to look outside New South Wales and what other states and territories are doing in order to crush and kill the virus, that’s a better approach.”
Premier Gladys Berejiklian says other states should be grateful to New South Wales for taking the bulk of returned travellers despite most of them not being from NSW.
This comes after Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan criticised MS Berejiklian’s handling of the pandemic and for not trying to eliminate the virus altogether.
Ms Berejiklian said she supports what National Cabinet endorses and is always striving toward zero community transmission cases.
Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack defended Ms Berejiklian and her team for their handling of COVID-19, praising their success as “the benchmark” for the nation.
“Many Western Australians, Mark McGowan needs to remember, have come through Sydney and done their mandatory two-week quarantining and then returned to Perth and elsewhere in Western Australia," Mr McCormack said.
As long as there are flights returning citizens to Australia, elimination of COVID-19 is impossible. Every day we see cases emerge in hotel quarantine around the country, including in Western Australia.
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NSW reported three new local cases during the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday, all in a family linked to the Berala cluster.
However, two mystery cases were identified after the reporting period: a western Sydney couple whose infections were discovered after one attended Mount Druitt Hospital emergency department with symptoms on the weekend.
In September, the national hot spot definition of a rolling three-day average of three cases a day was presented as a way for states to decide when to close borders. However, many have not used this definition, which itself has become murky in recent weeks.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan apologises to travellers from Queensland for the "heartbreak" caused by the reimposition of WA's hard border with the state, saying the "draconian" COVID-19 measures are necessary.