Time to treat Australians as adults, says Morrison as cases in NSW hit record high
A day after Australia’s most populous state reported its highest new daily caseload of the pandemic, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told premiers that a return to lockdowns, tight social restrictions and fines is not the answer.
Morrison had called an emergency National Cabinet meeting to discuss the rising infections and afterwards told a news conference that it was time “get past the heavy hand of government”, vowing to “treat Australians as adults”.
He added: “We have to move from a culture of mandates to a culture of responsibility. That's how we live with the virus into the future."
His comments arrived as New South Wales reported 3,057 cases in the 24 hours to 8 p.m. local time Monday - a record for daily infections in the country. A total of 284 people were hospitalized with Covid-19 in the state, with 39 patients in intensive care, according to a CNN report, which added that long queues had formed outside testing centres as thousands of people complied with orders to take a test ahead of the holiday.
Meanwhile, Queensland state health authorities warned they are seeing a doubling in cases every two days but said they will move forward with easing quarantine restrictions. Victoria reported 1,245 new COVID-19 cases and six deaths on Tuesday.
The World Health Organization has warned that Omicron is spreading "significantly faster" than the Delta variant and is causing infections in people who have been vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19. But scientists still don't know for sure if the variant causes more severe disease or to what extent existing vaccines are less effective against it.
Health ministers in New South Wales and Victoria have called on the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation to make ``specific determinations'' for accelerated booster programs in both states in part to stay ahead of the new strain.
According to reports, the advisory group is also reportedly considering changing the definition of ``fully vaccinated'' to mean those who have had a booster shot in addition to two vaccine doses.
Morrison said Australia would have to ``continue to calibrate'' how it lives with the virus. “It is the time for knowing and trusting Australians who have proven themselves with one of the highest vaccination rates in the world.''
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet mirrored Morrison's message in an op-ed for Australia's Daily Telegraph on Monday, despite the rising cases in his state.
"One of the most powerful reflexes is the feeling that with every new case, we should lock everything down," Perrottet said. "But this is not December 2019, and since the virus first emerged, one thing above all else has changed the game: vaccination."
He added that if the new outbreak threatens to overwhelm health services the state will change its approach, but that "it is time to shift the balance back to personal responsibility."
"NSW is resilient. Our people are strong. This is our moment to stand tall and lead the nation out of this pandemic," Perrottet said.
However, the president of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Omar Khorshid, said this was a "reckless" approach that is putting lives at risk.
"DIY contact tracing, watered-down check-in requirements, the abandonment of mask wearing mandates, and the removal of density limits are together a recipe for disaster and by the time hospital admissions and ICU cases grow beyond whatever benchmark he is working to - it will be too late," Khorshid said in a statement.
