Yahoo News Coronavirus cases reach zero in some Australian regions
South Australia and the Northern Territory have reported no new coronavirus cases over the weekend, and Queensland has had none in 24 hours.
Australian health officials say lockdown measures are working, with just 80 new COVID-19 cases recorded across the country over the weekend.
South Australia remained at just 81 confirmed cases as of Sunday evening despite a dramatic rise in testing during the past two days, while the Northern Territory remained at just 28 cases.
Elsewhere, New South Wales recorded just six new cases overnight, a result the state’s premier Gladys Berejiklian said was “very positive”, and Victoria recorded only one new case.
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Victoria has also ramped up testing, with around 7,000 tests done over the weekend.
Queensland announced on Monday it had no new cases overnight, the first time it reported no new cases in more than two months.
The Australian Capital Territory previously had six days with no new cases but health officials there confirmed on Monday it has one new diagnosed case, a man in his 40s who is said to have contracted the disease overseas.
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Western Australia marked one new case on Sunday, taking the state’s total to 545, while Tasmania recorded nine more cases over the weekend, bringing its total number of cases to 197.
Health authorities have now called for more South Australians in the 21-30 age group to present themselves for testing so they can identify any asymptomatic carriers of the virus.
South Australia’s Mike Cusack said more than 5,000 COVID-19 tests had been completed over the past two days during a testing blitz across the state.
"With the restrictions, especially with the border restrictions, we really have managed to get control of it,” he said.
"But in the coming weeks, we will get a true sense of it."
South Australia’s chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said she was “very pleased” with the outcome of the testing.
"This is in the context of many more tests being done in South Australia, so thank you to all those people who have developed a mild cold in the last three or four days and have come forward and had a test done.
"It is all very reassuring because if we were getting very low numbers but our testing rate was dropping then we would be concerned so please keep up the good work."
The results have not prompted ministers to ease lockdown restrictions yet, but they could relax them in the next few weeks.
South Australia’s health minister Stephen Wade said it was too soon to ease border controls but that other measures would be lifted in the next few weeks.
Speaking to ABC News on Sunday, Wade said: “The border control will not be the first wave of restrictions eased.
“We're going to be very cautious as we ease back on these restrictions.”
