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Early last year, when it became clear a mysterious new virus in China would spread to every corner of the globe, most nations were quick to put up walls. In the week after the World Health Organisation declared a pandemic, scores of countries either completely or partially closed their borders.
Australia joined the rush, slamming the door shut from 9pm on March 20, with exemptions only for citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families. While the move stunned many â Prime Minister Scott Morrison gave one dayâs notice â there was little protest. Combined with the hotel quarantine program, which started a week after the borders were shut, closed borders have been the main reason Australia has stayed relatively free from COVID-19.
‘We must abandon fortress Australia at some point,’ he said Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton receiving his first COVID-19 vaccination at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne, Wednesday, 21 April 2021. Photo: AAP Image/Luis Ascui
16 May 2021 1:17pm
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has reportedly told healthcare workers in a private seminar that Australia cannot keep going with its “fortress approach” against Covid-19 and will soon have to “make a call on letting it run”.
According to attendees at an April event Professor Sutton told the audience that vaccinations were not progressing as fast as he would like, stressing that the sooner the majority of Australians complete receiving the doses of the vaccine the country will be able to open,
No new Victorian COVID-19 infections after local case this week
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No new COVID-19 cases have been found in Victoria in the last 24 hours as the state takes on crucial testing and contact tracing following a positive case yesterday
The new case spent a week in the community before returning a positive COVID-19 test result on Tuesday, April 11
The man, who marks the first new COVID-19 case in Victoria in 73 days, had just spent two weeks in hotel quarantine in South Australia after returning to Australia from India in April
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said it is believed the man contracted the virus while in hotel quarantine in South Australia
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Almost 7000 coronavirus jabs have been administered in Victoria since the state opened its vaccination hubs to everyone aged over 50.
Some 6923 vaccine doses were administered in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning across the state s 22 mass vaccination hubs, according to the health department.
The department said the number of reported doses was a 105 per cent increase on the same day last week.
More than 13,000 Victorians also called the state s booking hotline to make an appointment to have the jab.
The national vaccine rollout was expanded on Monday to include phase 2a, which includes anyone aged 50 or over as well as all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults aged between 18 and 49 years old.