'Australia can achieve this, but it would require a demonstration of a sustained period of low disease incidence - probably a year or more'
Professor Raina MacIntyre from the University of NSW Kirby Institute said that although the number of confirmed cases in Australia was now low, the key to eliminating COVID-19 was in stamping out community transmission, where the virus spreads without a known source.
"Australia can achieve this, but it would require a demonstration of a sustained period of low disease incidence - probably a year or more."In that time, she said, authorities would need to maintain high levels of testing and contact tracing, keep international borders closed, continue with social distancing and potentially introduce "universal face mask use".
She said a high level of testing, including of "asymptomatic, high-risk contacts", was essential, with the fact 80 per cent of cases were mild or asymptomatic meaning "there will be cases of transmission that hasn't been picked up, that's so mild it hasn't come to the attention of anyone."
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