Report Zero COVID-19 Cases, Australian Health Authorities Are Still Tightening Monitoring

Illustration of lonely atmosphere due to COVID 19 in Sydney, Australia. (Kate Trifo / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Australian health authorities said that the Kangaroo Country reported zero local COVID-19 cases on Monday, January 18 local time. This is thanks to better management of handling COVID-19 from many countries, by carrying out area lockdowns and massive and intensive testing and tracing of COVID-19 contacts.

However, Australia is unlikely to fully open its international borders this year. This includes the COVID-19 vaccination program.

"Even if we have a large population being vaccinated, we don't know if that will prevent transmission of the virus," Australian Health Minister Brendan Murphy told the ABC.

Regarding vaccines, local authorities will also further investigate the effects of using the Pfizer vaccine, which is predicted to be the first to be authorized for use. This is associated with a number of deaths from recipients of similar vaccines in Norway.

Meanwhile, related to the implementation of the 2021 Australia Open Tennis Championship which will be held on February 8-21. The state of Victoria, which is hosting the event, reported four positive cases from overseas, all related to tennis.

Not only that, more than 70 tennis players who will compete in the tournament, are also required to undergo isolation in the health hotel room that has been provided upon arrival in Australia for the next 14 days, until tested negative for the corona virus.

It is known, Australia has reported more than 22 thousand local positive cases of COVID-19 and 909 deaths, since the pandemic began last year.