CANBERRA, June 5, 2021 (BSS/XINHUA) – Australia’s early response to the coronavirus pandemic prevented lots of deaths and billions of dollars in economic damage, a report has found.
In a study published on Saturday, researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) and the University of Melbourne modeled three different scenarios from Australia’s first wave of COVID-19 infections.
They estimated the cost of the eight-week lockdown adopted across most of the country from March 2020 at 52 billion Australian dollars (40.2 billion U.S. dollars) – 3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).
“The costs of a much-delayed lockdown were many times greater and included a much greater loss of life,” co-author Quentin Grafton from ANU’s Crawford School of Public Policy said in a media release.
Australia closed its international borders in March 2020, with residents and citizens returning to the country forced into quarantine for 14 days.
There were 104 deaths from COVID-19 in Australia between March and June 2020.
However, a second wave of infections in the state of Victoria that began in mid-June caused about 800 deaths, taking the national toll to more than 900.
Professor Tom Kompas from the University of Melbourne said that current lockdown in Victoria was the right approach.
“An uncontrolled spread of COVID, especially with newer, more aggressive strains, would be disastrous for Australia,” he said. “Elimination of community spread in Australia is best for both health and economy outcomes.”