Australia has recorded no new community cases of coronavirus for the first time in almost five months.
No COVID-19 cases were recorded for a whole day – between 8.00pm Friday, October 30, and 8.00pm Saturday, October 31, for the first time since June 9.
Victoria faced the brunt of Australia’s second wave of cases, recording a peak of 725 new cases in one day, however the state has now registered zero new cases for two days in a row.
Meanwhile, New South Wales also recorded no new community cases between Friday night and Saturday night, however it did record four cases in people currently quarantining in a hotel from overseas. The state also recorded one singular case of community transmission after the 8.00pm deadline, which will be recorded in Monday’s numbers.
Since the pandemic began, Australia has recorded a total of around 27,500 cases and 900 coronavirus deaths, which are relatively low numbers considering the country has a population of 25 million.
Health minister Greg Hunt took to Twitter to thank public health workers and ‘above all else the Australian people,’ for helping reduce the number of cases within the country.
From the beginning of the outbreak, Australia adopted an early lockdown as a preventative measure, while implementing strict stay-at-home curfews.
Now that the virus seems to be under control, health officials say restrictions could begin to ease in the country in coming days. Next Sunday, November 8, Australia is set to scrap the ‘ring of steel’ in Melbourne, which divided up the city and imposed a 25km travel limit.
In both Victoria and Melbourne, people are now able to freely leave their homes and gather in groups of up to 10, while shops, restaurants, cafes and bars have been allowed to reopen.
