Australians urged to "do their part" in ongoing fight against coronavirus
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E-mail Xinhua, July 13, 2020
CANBERRA, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Australians have been warned to continue taking the coronavirus threat seriously.
Michael Kidd, Australia's Deputy Chief Medical Officer, on Monday said that a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Victoria was proof that the virus was still a threat in Australia.
"The message is the same for everybody. Do your part. Stop the spread," he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television.
"The virus is incredibly contagious and transfers very quickly from person to person.
"This is a highly infectious virus. Everybody needs to be doing their part."
Australia is set to surpass 10,000 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 within days.
As at 3:00 pm on Monday, July 13, a total of 9,980 cases have been reported in Australia, including 108 deaths, and 7,769 have been reported as recovered from COVID-19, according to the latest figures from Department of Health.
The department also said that the number of new cases in last 24 hours is 192. Of the new cases, 177 were in Victoria.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Monday described Victoria's return to lockdown as a "real setback" to Australia's economic recovery.
He said that Australia was clearly divided into two stages, with every other state and territory continuing to restart their economies while Victoria goes backwards.
"We must stay on top of the health aspects of the virus, because economic support packages can only go so far," Frydenberg told the ABC.
"The best economic support one can provide is to get the health consequences of this under control, and that's why people need to follow the social distancing requirements."
"We certainly have to live with the pandemic, and that's going to mean a second wave of cases, it's going to mean spikes from time to time, and it's how we effectively manage those spikes that will determine the speed and the trajectory of our economic recovery."
It comes after the Australian Industry Group and Business Council of Australia on Sunday called for governments to maintain momentum in reopening the economy, warning that the economy would not afford further hard lockdowns, according to The Australian. Enditem
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