Why an epidemiologist says Australia should shut the border to the UK
An epidemiologist says the borders should be closed with the UK to ward off any chance of the highly contagious mutant strain of COVID-19 spreading in Australia.
University of South Australia epidemiologist Professor Adrian Esterman told Heidi Murphy on 3AW Drive the new strain was up to 70 per cent more infectious.
“I think we should be very concerned, this thing moves so quickly that it can easily get out of control.
“Ideally from a public health view point, you would stop anyone coming from the UK, but because of constitutional requirements to allow Australians to return to Australia, I don’t think that’s possible.
“The minimum we should do would be to is mandate pre-departure testing and arrival testing from anybody coming from the UK.
“From our national perspective, it would make sense to test everyone before they get on a plane.”
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