‘Strict Measures Helped Australia Avoid 30,000 Covid Deaths’

Pledging that he will not risk Australian lives, Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday said the strict measures adopted by his government have helped avoid 30,000 deaths in the country which would have otherwise been caused due to the “raging” COVID-19 pandemic.

Addressing a press conference in Queensland, Morrison termed the emergence of new virus strains a “great risk”.

He said all the vaccines being administered across the world may not be equipped to deal with the new virus variants. However, he said that his government was taking decisions based on the best medical advice available currently.

“The pandemic is raging. The pandemic is morphing. It’s changing everyday. When you see the pandemic this year raging through developing countries, then the great risk, as we’re already seeing, is new strains, new variants coming through,” he said.

“I’m not going to take risks with Australian lives. I’m not going to do that and I’m going to ensure that we maintain a regime that has so far avoided the loss of 30,000 lives in this country and has seen more Australians come back into work than were there before (the pandemic),” the Prime Minister said.

He compared the Australian situation to the global scenario, in which countries were largely reeling from the pandemic, more devastating than last year.

Australia has so far recorded 29,988 cases of coronavirus, along with 910 related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Morrison said, “I understand that we want to be able to prepare to get us in a place where when it’s safe to do so, we can make changes.”

“But right now, it’s not safe to do so. We are working on plans, as I’ve said many times, working on plans to enable vaccinated Australians firstly to be able to travel around Australia and to be able to move around when states… potentially to travel overseas and have different quarantine arrangements on their return with the sign-off from State Chief Health Officers,” he said.

Australia’s borders were slammed shut in March last year as the coronavirus spread across the world. Only citizens and permanent residents have been allowed to enter the country under some strict COVID-19 border rules.