Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday said that the country remains “on track” in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
After a meeting of the National Cabinet, Morrison told media that Australia is in a better position than he hoped for when the coronavirus pandemic hit the country in January.
However, he warned that there was still a high risk of further outbreaks that could undo all of Australia’s progress on preventing the spread of the virus.
“We would be foolish to think that we were immune or that we are immune,” he further added.
Earlier, Morrison had said that Australia was currently on track to meet 11 of the 15 criteria for easing restrictions but urged the citizens to continue downloading the government’s COVIDSafe tracing app.
More than 3.5 million people have downloaded the app since it was launched but the health department had previously said that in order for it to be effective at least 10 million people should install it.
As of Friday, there have been over 7,100 confirmed cases in Australia with 103 deaths.
He said that 30,000 tests were being conducted every day, with approximately 0.05 per cent returning positive results, and announced that the number of coronavirus patients on ventilators in Australia has fallen to just two.
“We would still like to do more tests. We would like every person with an acute respiratory problem, cough, cold, to get tested. It is the way to track the virus.
Friday was the first National Cabinet meeting since May 15.
Morrison announced that the meetings will continue on a monthly basis in the wake of the pandemic, replacing the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) system.
He said that the new system would be driven by a singular agenda, and that is to create jobs.
Northern Territory (NT) Chief Minister Michael Gunner earlier revealed that the plan to lift most restrictions in the NT, which has had only 27 confirmed cases of COVID-19, by June 5.