COVID-19 pandemic in Australia

Distribution of coronavirus sufferers by state (updated daily)

The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia was first detected in Victoria on January 25, 2020 when a man returning from Wuhan , China tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.

On May 8, the Australian government announced a three-stage plan to ease the lockdowns that had been ordered.

background

The COVID-19 pandemic is occurring in Australia as part of the global COVID-19 pandemic that began in China in December 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic affects the novel disease COVID-19. This is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus from the Coronaviridae group and belongs to the group of respiratory diseases . From March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified the outbreak of the novel coronavirus as a global pandemic .

politics

Government action

The behavior of the ruling Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been criticized for not only being hesitant at first, but also for the fact that his instructions were unclear and sometimes contradicting at a time when clear guidance was needed. He caused panic and, above all, failed to point out that the people in Australia should help each other. He reacted incompetently and caused confusion.

Although the first case of infection was noted on January 25, 2020, it was only after more than a month on February 27 that Morrison declared the emergency, known as the Australian Health Sector Emergency Response Plan for Novel Coronavirus . On March 13, 2020, a National Cabinet was institutionalized, a crisis cabinet that has not been used in this form since the Second World War. This cabinet is composed of the Prime Minister of Australia, the Prime Ministers of the states and the Chief Ministers of the Territories in Australia. On March 25, Morrison established the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission (NCCC), which coordinates strategic actions across Australia against the pandemic.

Scientific criticism

The Australian epidemiologist , Professor Tony Blakely from the University of Melbourne , long before the outbreak of the pandemic, urged the government to order social distancing orders. This has now happened, but he expects that the pandemic will escalate further under the measures taken and social distance enforced. Among other things, this would mean that the existing 2,200 intensive care beds would not be sufficient. Three days after the introduction of social distancing, around 90% of Australians stick to it, according to a study. Blakely now assumes that Australia now has the pandemic under control. It is now time in three weeks to the end of May to have a social discussion among epidiomologists, economists , philosophers and ethicists in order to discuss the effects of various strategies for combating the pandemic and to make decisions about it.

Corona app

At the end of April, Australia introduced a corona warning app on cell phones based on Bluetooth technology, which can be used to determine whether a cell phone user was within 1.5 meters of an infected person. Using the encrypted data, which is stored on a central computer in Australia, health authorities should be able to trace infection chains more quickly. Participation is voluntary. The Corona app, which 6 million Australians - around a third of Australia's mobile phone users - have been using since April 26, 2020, was only helpful in one case up to May 24, 2020. The app that Prime Minister Morrison announced at the end of April as "[...] an important protection for a Covid-safe Australia" (German: "an important protection for a COVID-19-safe Australia") and compared it to a sunscreen , clearly fell short of expectations.

Virus transmission

According to Morrison, 80 percent of the cases of infection in Australia can be traced back to the fact that Australians were infected abroad, or to the fact that a person became infected at home through direct contact with sick people who came from abroad. It is believed that 20% of Australia's corona sufferers come from cruise ships.

activities

Financial support

• 

  Empty toilet roll shelves, Adelaide

• 

  Empty streets, Brisbane

Australia wants to provide funds amounting to around 10% of national economic output to cope with the corona crisis in 2020. 66 billion AUD (35.8 billion euros) are to support the middle class. The first support package had a volume of A $ 17.6 billion (EUR 9.6 billion) and the Australian central bank released around A $ 90 billion (EUR 48.9 billion) for the sale of government bonds.

Around one million workers became unemployed in early April 2020. In order to stimulate demand, Keynsian concepts of stimulating demand were pursued, an economic concept that the right-wing conservative government had always categorically rejected: welfare recipients receive an additional 550 AUD for 14 days. This is the second time veterans have received an extra payment of $ 750. Citizens who have a pension reserve can deduct up to A $ 10,000 tax-free from the reserve. This is possible again in the same amount from July. The Australian state guarantees a total of 40 billion AUD (21.7 billion euros) for bank loans to distressed small business owners. Medium-sized businesses receive up to $ 100,000 in wages from the state. On April 2, the government announced that the government would be allocating A $ 1.6 billion (€ 870 million) to childcare for approximately one million families, mostly working people, to keep the economy going.

On June 3, 2020, it was announced that Australia had fallen into recession for the first time in 29 years . An economic recession is always spoken of when the economic performance of a country ( gross national product ) has fallen in three consecutive months. The index fell by a total of 0.3% in the first three months of the year, which was officially due to the effects of the 2019/2020 bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.

behaviour rules

Queues in front of a supermarket (March 19, 2020)

Since February 1, 2020, no Chinese have been allowed to enter Australia. Australia imposed a travel ban on March 19, 2020, and all Australians entering the country must be placed in a two-week quarantine in hotels provided by the government. On March 19, 2020, the Australian government announced that a maximum of 100 people could stay indoors, excluding "public transport, medical facilities, courts, prisons, airports, supermarkets, shopping malls, parliaments, factories and construction sites". The schools should also remain open. Australians staying abroad should return immediately.

Originally, groups of up to 10 people were allowed in public spaces, but it has now been reduced to 2. People who are over 70 years old and people with chronic diseases are only allowed to leave their homes in emergencies; this also applies to the indigenous population over 50 years of age. A maximum of 5 guests is allowed for weddings and 10 people are allowed to participate in funerals.

Distance markings

In Australia, a distance rule has been defined to avoid virus transmission for each individual person with an area of ​​4 m² (2 × 2 m). This means that the distance to be maintained from person to person must be between 1.0 and 1.5 meters.

On April 3, Morrison urged all foreigners to leave Australia, except for nurses, doctors and students with a 12-month permit. Foreign seasonal workers in agriculture must be quarantined for two weeks before starting work.

Relaxations

Three-step plan

The Australian government wants to lift the lockdown with a three-stage plan, with a so-called roadmap . The central government leaves the time of entry into the respective stage to the states and provides funds for this. In the first stage it is allowed to pick up a coffee in a café, this also applies to a restaurant. Children can also be taken to a playground. When the states and territories move into the first tier, community centers, libraries, and marinas can reopen and up to five guests can be invited into the home. Restaurants can also open if strict distance rules are observed. Groups of up to 10 people can meet in public. At weddings, up to 13 people (including the wedding couple with bride and groom) can come together for celebrations, at funeral ceremonies outside of buildings 30 people can be present and up to 20 inside the building. Outdoor sports activities are allowed up to 10 people and swimming pools can be opened. For stage one, the Australian government is providing AUD 3.1 billion per month to support 250,000 people.

In the second stage, groups of up to 20 people are permitted in public, as well as the opening of sports halls, cinemas, galleries, boat harbors, playgrounds, sports halls and fitness studios. Traffic between states should be allowed unless an adjacent state still keeps the borders closed. Caravan parks and campsites can open. The number of guests will be increased to 20 at weddings and to 50 at funerals. In the second stage, the Australian government is providing an additional AUD 3 billion each month.

In a third stage, life should be possible as it was before the crisis, and this goal should be achieved in July 2020.

Victoria

When the number of cases in the Melbourne area in Victoria increased at the end of June 2020 , the Australian government sent around 1,000 soldiers to Melbourne to provide support in the fight against the pandemic. The sources of infection include a hotel in which Australians returning from abroad were quarantined and a clothing store in the north of the city. As the numbers continued to rise, lockdowns were imposed on numerous Melbourne suburbs from July 1, 2020 through July 30, 2020. Bars and night clubs, cinemas and museums have been closed, and home office is recommended. Not wearing face masks on the streets is fined. As the number of infections continued to rise daily, the borders with the neighboring states of New South Wales and South Australia were closed again.

Border openings

A comprehensive entry ban for all foreign travelers without a permanent residence permit to Australia applies until further notice. Inner-state, New South Wales , Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory were the only states in Australia that did not keep their borders closed during the course of the pandemic.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on June 11, 2020 that by the end of July 2020 all of Australia would be restored to freedom of travel, with the exception of Western Australia . The government of Western Australia did not announce a binding date.

Within the state of Western Australia there has been freedom of travel since June 5, 2020 except for entering Aboriginal settlements.

At midnight from June 16-17, 2020, South Australia opened its borders to citizens of Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory . This means that they no longer have to be quarantined for 14 days.

Queensland announced its border opening on July 10, 2020.

Tasmania will announce further easing measures on June 26, 2020.

For the Northern Territory, there has been a 14-day quarantine for travelers arriving from June 15, 2020 until further notice.

statistics

Time course of the COVID-19 pandemic according to data from the Australian Department of Health:

See also

• List of epidemics and pandemics
• List of deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic

Web links

Commons : COVID-19 Pandemic in Australia  - Pictures, Videos and Audio Files Collection

• German-language instructions for behavior during the corona pandemic in Australia (PDF)
• World Health Organization (WHO): Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) situation reports on the website www.who.int (English)
• Johns Hopkins CSSE : Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases. (English)
• Website World of Meters : real-time data of the Corona virus pandemic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Australian Government Department of Health: First confirmed case of novel coronavirus in Australia. January 25, 2020, accessed on March 29, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Pulmonologists on the net: Covid-19: Causes . Online at www.lungenaerzte-im-netz.de. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
3. ↑ Tagesschau: “Deeply worried”. WHO speaks of corona pandemic . March 11, 2020. Online at www.tagesschau.de. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
4. ^ Richard Flanagan: Australia is scared and confused about coronavirus. Is Scott Morrison the leader we need for this grave moment? . In: The Guardian of March 26, 2020
5. ↑ Katharine Murphy: It's not working: Scott Morrison's late-night coronavirus messages only sow confusion n: The Guardian of March 25, 2020
6. ^ Peter Lewis: Morrison has changed tack against his tribal instincts. But what happens after coronavirus? . In: The Guardian of April 6, 2020
7. ↑ Coronavirus (COVID-19) health alert . in: Australian Government Department of Health of February 29, 2020
8. ↑ Nick Bonyhady, Jennifer Ducke: Leaders in unprecedented 'national cabinet' to tackle coronavirus In: Sydney Morning Herald of March 13, 2020
9. ↑ National COVID-19 Coordination Commission Media Release . In: State Chancellery of the Prime Minister of March 25, 2020
10. ↑ Australia becomes a prison island . In: taz of March 27, 2020, accessed on April 10, 2020
11. ↑ Chrais Chang: The decision Australia needs to make on how we end the coronavirus epidemic . In: News.com from April 8, 2020
12. ↑ Careful relaxation of the corona restrictions in several countries . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of April 27, 2020
13. ↑ Patrick Beuth: Australia's Corona app is a failure . In: Spiegel Online from May 24, 2020
14. ↑ Josh Taylor: How did the Covidsafe app go from being vital to almost irrelevant? . In: The Guardian of May 23, 2020
15. ↑ ^{a b} Christoph Hein: One of the greatest disappointments in times of crisis . In: FAZ of March 18, 2020
16. ^ German cruise passenger has died . In: NTV of April 3, 2020
17. ↑ Christoph Hein: Australia picks up the next billions . In: FAZ of March 22, 2020
18. ↑ Jack Guy: One million Australian families to get free childcare as part of coronavirus response . In: CNN of April 2, 2020
19. ^ Coronavirus: Australia set for first recession in three decades . In. BBC News of June 3, 2020
20. ↑ Australia and New Zealand close borders . In Eßlinger Zeitung from March 19, 2020
21. ↑ Biwa Kwan: Public gatherings will be limited to two people as governments and the elderly should stay home "as much as practicable" under new COVID-19 rules and advice . In: SBS of March 30, 2020
22. ↑ Australia's social distancing rules have been enhanced to slow coronavirus - here's how they work . In: Australian Broadcasting Corporation of March 21, 2020
23. ↑ Alicia Vrajlal: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison Tells Visitors To, Go Home 'Amid Coronavirus Crisis . In: Huffpost Australia of April 4, 2020
24. ↑ Jordan Heyne: Coronavirus restrictions are due to begin easing, these are the steps to reopening Australia . In Australian Broadcasting Corporation on May 8, 2020
25. ↑ Australian government sends around a thousand soldiers to Melbourne . In: AFP of June 25, 2020
26. ↑ Coronavirus (COVID-19) daily update . In: Victoria Department of Health, July 1, 2020
27. ↑ Alexander Sarovic: At first almost Corona-free, now the second wave . In: Spiegel-online from July 30, 2020
28. ^ Australia: Travel and Safety Advice . In: Federal Foreign Office of May 5, 2020
29. ↑ ^{a b} Elizabeth Daoud: States set to reopen borders months after putting in coronavirus restrictions . In: 7news from June 15, 2020
30. ↑ James Carmody: WA won't name date to ease coronavirus interstate border closure after pressure from PM . In: Australian Broadcasting Corporation of June 12, 2020
31. ↑ COVID-19 coronavirus: Travel advice . In: Federal Government of Western Australia, June 16, 2020
32. ^ Sarah Swain: Coronavirus: South Australia to open borders to travelers from NT, WA and Tasmania from tonight . In: 9news from June 16, 2020
33. ↑ Kate Ainswort, Alexandra Humphries: Tasmania to ease coronavirus restrictions early, with no active cases in the state . In: Australian Broadcasting Corporation of June 13, 2020
34. ↑ Border Controls . In: Government of the Northern Territory of June 15, 2020
35. ↑ Coronavirus (COVID-19) current situation and case numbers . In: Australian Government Department of Health