It’s been revealed Australia’s chief medical officer told the federal government not to introduce mandatory COVID testing on travellers from China, advice which was ignored.

But a prominent epidemiologist says he understands why.

“With tens of millions of Chinese people currently infected, it is inevitable a new subvariant will arrive and it’s likely that it won’t be more severe, it may well be less severe, but we don’t know that for sure,” Professor Robert Booy told 3AW.

Press PLAY below to hear him explain