Why it’s too early to ease COVID-19 restrictions, despite falling cases

Australia recorded some of its lowest day-to-day increases in positive coronavirus cases over the Easter weekend, but experts have warned it’s too early to think about easing restrictions.

Just three new cases emerged in Victoria yesterday, prompting suggestions that lockdown restrictions and isolation measures could start to be relaxed.

But global health security expert from the University of Sydney, Adam Kamradt-Scott, warned complacency could lead to a more severe COVID-19 outbreak in Australia.

“When measures get relaxed we’ve seen then that the virus makes a resurgence,” he told 3AW’s Kate and Quarters, filling in for Ross and John.

“We’re in a pandemic. This is not just simply a disease outbreak, and once we get it under relative control in Australia we need to keep other measures in place for the foreseeable future, because otherwise we’re just going to continue to see the reintroduction of the virus into our country.”

Mr Kamradt-Scott said when restrictions are finally relaxed, they need to be eased gradually.

“As we start to lift them they need to be done progressively and we need to allow time to measure the effectiveness before we then start lifting other measures,” he said.

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