Plans for Australia to exit the current scale of lockdown will be discussed at a national cabinet meeting scheduled for Thursday
- The spread of the virus in Australia has slowed (for global info, check out this link)
- The shutdown is estimated (these vary widely) to be costing around $550 million a day in lost GDP
- Staged lifting of restrictions will begin with those least likely to rekindle the infection rate.
Health Minster Greg Hunt:
- "The latest data shows that we have had consistent growth in new cases of below 2 per cent a day''
- "What that means is that we are now beginning to see a consolidated flattening of the curve."
- "That doesn't mean we're out of our challenge. There is still growth and there could, at any time, be outbreaks and spikes. But this is a cause for real hope and real aspiration."
NSW is the hardest hit state (its the highest population state), the situation there currently (based on data for the first 11 days of April)
- number of people in intensive care in NSW has fallen to 30
- 21 on ventilators - which is 2% of currently available ventilators (another 3000 of the machines are on order)
PM Morrison
