Australia will need to remain closed for decades if it wants to stay 100% COVID-19 free, according to the Australian Medical Association
The nation’s peak body for doctors has warned that Australia’s current strategy of COVID-19 elimination would keep the country’s international borders closed for decades.
The Australian Medical Association said if the current strategy to “stay free” of COVID-19 continues, it will be far longer than a year until Australia reopens its borders.
The statement comes as the government faces increasing pressure from affected industries to rethink its plan for a gradual reopening from mid-2022.
Australia plans to reopen borders to the rest of the world from the middle of 2022, according to the Federal Budget unveiled last week, along with a plan to fully vaccinate the population by the end of the year.
AMA president Omar Khorshid, weighing in on Australia’s pathway back to “relatively normal lives,” told a News Corp publication that “for Australia to stay free of COVID, we have to keep our borders shut for decades.”
Khorshid questioned the government’s long-term strategy and suggested many Australians would push back against border closures extending past 2022.
