The architect of a report that underpinned the Morrison Government’s COVID-19 response says reopening Australia should be put on hold as fears escalate over the Omicron strain.
The architect of a report that underpinned the Morrison government’s COVID-19 response says reopening Australia should be put on hold as concerns escalate over the Omicron strain.
Professor Kaldor said a two-week pause on big indoor events and a return to mask-wearing could avoid tens of thousands of cases in January and a spike in hospital admissions swamping the health service. Mr Perrottet pointed to relatively low numbers of ICU admissions in resisting calls for the reinstatement of the mask-wearing mandate and QR check-ins.
“The combination of greatly increased transmission rates and uncertain levels of disease severity and vaccine protection means that for the next few weeks, and until the uncertainties are resolved, we must rethink our opening-up plans,” the three epidemiologists wrote in an open letter published by this masthead.
Prof Kaldor said there were scenarios under which outdoor events like the New Year’s Eve fireworks could be conducted relatively safely.
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