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Coronavirus: Australia eyes early lifting of virus restrictions | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Australia will review its virus lockdown earlier than expected, says Prime Minister Scott Morrison. | |
Health officials say the nation has "pretty convincingly" flattened its virus spread after weeks of strict social restrictions. | |
Officials were due to review freedoms on 11 May but this will now be brought forward to 8 May. Mr Morrison said Australians had "earned an early mark". | |
The call came as several states allow their residents new freedoms on Friday. | |
The Northern Territory became the first to lift major restrictions, re-opening public parks and pools and removing attendance limits for gatherings from midday. | |
New South Wales, which includes Sydney, also opened up to allow households to have two adult visitors at a time. | |
The most-populous state accounts for near half of the nation's 6,700 cases. But numbers had continually dwindled in recent weeks, and fewer than 20 cases were being reported per day. | |
"[We have] pretty convincingly flattened the curve," said chief medical officer Dr Brendan Murphy. | |
Australia coronavirus news: | Australia coronavirus news: |
However, authorities said they were still wary of lifting restrictions too early and re-iterated the need for "millions more" Australians to download a tracing app released this week. | |
"We need that tool so we can open the economy," said Mr Morrison. "So if you haven't downloaded the app yet, download it." | |
So far, 3.5 million people in the nation of 25 million have signed up to it. | |
What restrictions have been eased so far? | |
On Friday, the Northern Territory - a remote, sparsely populated region - lifted major social restrictions in a move seen as a test case for the rest of the nation. | |
"Because we are the safest place in Australia, we can do this before the rest of Australia," said NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner. | |
Locals must maintain a 1.5m (5ft) distance from others, but can now visit parks and swimming holes and play non-contact sport. | |
The territory will look to remove all restrictions by 5 June, and have restaurants and pubs back open for dining in mid-May. However, officials will keep a ban on travel to vulnerable Aboriginal communities in the outback. | |
Other states have also begun a cautious roll-back. | |
NSW - the state with the highest number of reported cases - began allowing household visits on Friday and has already re-opened beaches. | |
The Australian Capital Territory - around the nation's capital, Canberra - will also allow social visits after announcing on Thursday it had eliminated its virus cases. | |
Queensland will permit shopping trips for non-essential goods while Western Australia will allow 10 people at gatherings - up from the previous limit of two. | |
Meanwhile, Victoria, the second most-populous state, says it will stick with its existing lockdown until the national review next Friday. Premier Daniel Andrew said the situation remained "very fragile" despite the low reported numbers. |