CANBERRA, Sept 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, declared that he is “encouraged” by the nation’s fight against a second wave of COVID-19 infections in the state of Victoria.
Morrison yesterday held a meeting of the Cabinet, which is composed of the prime minister and state and territory leaders, after which, he welcomed a significant decline in new COVID-19 cases in Victoria, the hardest-hit state by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, and praised the state government’s decision to ease restrictions in regional areas.
“We’re encouraged by what we see in Victoria now,” Morrison said. “We’re encouraged about the relaxation of the restrictions that we’ve seen in Victoria in regional areas.
“We are hopeful that the road map that has been outlined by the Victorian Premier continues to be achieved, and we hope it continues to be accelerated in response to the case numbers that we’re seeing there.”
As of yesterday afternoon, there were 26,861 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia, and the number of new cases in the last 24 hours is 51.
There were five new deaths reported in Victoria yesterday, taking the national death toll to 837. Of the new cases, Victoria confirmed 45 and New South Wales confirmed six more cases.
Victoria, Australia’s second-most populous state, confirmed fewer than 50 cases for eight consecutive days, the first time it has done so.
“All of today’s deaths are linked to known outbreaks in aged care facilities. To date, 750 people have died in Victoria,” said a statement from the Department of Health and Human Services in Victoria.
The National Cabinet agreed to increase the cap on international arrivals to Australia, in a staged way, from 4,000 to 6,000 per week.
The prime minister also addressed Thursday’s labour force data, which revealed a surprise drop in the unemployment rate from 7.5 percent in July to 6.8 percent in Aug.
“I mean, these are employment numbers that have seen more than half now, more than half of the jobs lost come back. That’s good news.”
Despite the positive news, Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg said that, there was “a lot of uncertainty” in the economy.
He described the labour market as “challenging” and reiterated calls for strict COVID-19 restrictions across Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria, to be lifted earlier than currently planned.
“Now, I am hoping, the prime minister is hoping, that those restrictions can be eased as quickly as it is COVID-safe to do so,” he told Sky News. “Once that happens, more businesses will re-open, more people will get back to work and that will be good news for the overall economy.”– NNN-AGENCIES
