'She's taking the right approach': Scott Morrison backs Gladys Berejiklian for not locking down Sydney as virus expert calls her 'crazy' for keeping the city open
- Sydney suffered 36 cases of Covid in latest outbreak, prompting restrictions
- Premier Gladys Berejiklian has not locked down city and backed contact tracers
- Scott Morrison said she was taking the 'right approach' not to impose shut down
Scott Morrison has backed Gladys Berejiklian's decision not to lock down Sydney.
The Prime Minister said the premier was 'taking the right approach' to adopt proportionate restrictions as an outbreak of the Indian Delta variant rose to 36 on Wednesday with more cases expected on Thursday.
University of Melbourne epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely said Ms Berejiklian was 'crazy' for keeping gyms open and warned lockdown will last longer for every moment she delays imposing it.
But Mr Morrison supported his Liberal colleague.
'The premier and I spoke at some length yesterday and I have been keeping in contact over the course of this last week with the situation in NSW,' Mr Morrison told Sunrise.
A woman is seen cleaning the sanitiser station at a shop store in Bondi Junction on June 23
'I think the approach that she is taking is the right one. There are sensible restrictions that are being put in place and they are affecting people right across Sydney.'
Mr Morrison said he hoped restrictions would be lifted quickly once cases subside.
'I think that encourages people, particularly in NSW, knowing that as soon as those restrictions are not necessary they will be lifted because that is what Gladys Berejiklian and her government have always sought to do during the course of this pandemic,' he said.
Sixteen new infections were announced on Wednesday, bringing the total to 36 new community infections in the Harbour City after a super spreader event saw 10 people infected at a birthday party, which was attended by 30 people.
Sources close to the Berejiklian government have hinted that Thursday will see 'big numbers' of new infections, with Sydneysiders ordered not to leave the city.
Ms Berejiklian, who has taken a measured approach to outbreaks, has so far stood firm by refusing to lock down Sydney, instead bringing in restrictions including limits of five visitors to a household and mandatory masks.
On Wednesday evening, NSW Health added 12 stores, a busy bus route and three train lines to the burgeoning list of exposure sites in the city. Pictured: Passengers at Sydney Domestic Airport
Ms Berejiklian conceded that harsher measures will be needed if cases begin to spiral out of control, particularly those not linked to known outbreaks.
'We have always said we will not burden our citizens unless we absolutely have to,' she said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Mr Morrison has warned new variants of Covid-19 emerging in poor countries are 'unpredictable' and could evade vaccines.
The Prime Minister backed his policy to keep international borders closed as other countries relax restrictions, saying he won't 'recklessly' trade places with nations that still have high numbers of cases and deaths.
'Once you let it in you can't get it out,' he said of the virus in an interview with Sunrise.
Commuters wear protective face masks as they enter Central Station following the implementation of new public health regulations from the state of New South Wales
Western Australia and South Australia have shut their borders to all New South Wales residents while other jurisdictions have blocked travel from either Greater Sydney or the seven worst-affected local government areas, just before school holidays.
Sunrise host Natalie Barr asked the Prime Minister why Australians are facing restrictions while nations like the US and the UK, who have largely vaccinated their populations, are opening up.
Mr Morrison said: 'In Australia we don't have the virus at rates seen in other countries.
'If we would take the steps that others seem to be suggesting, we would have to be comfortable with 5,000 cases a day. Now I don't think Australians would be happy with that.
'What we're doing is we're keeping our economy growing and keeping our people safe and we're doing that behind international borders.
'And I agree with you, we should keep Australia as open as possible behind those borders.'
Those who live and work in seven hotspot suburbs will not be allowed to leave metropolitan Sydney unless they have an essential reason
The comments are a heavy blow to Aussies hoping to visit family overseas after 15 months of being trapped in the country due to travel bans. The government estimates the borders will not be open until July 2022.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Australia has pursued an aggressive suppression strategy to snuff out the virus with some of the toughest border controls in the world alongside contract tracing and mass testing.
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Earlier this week India recorded yet another variant of the virus which has been labelled Delta plus.
Mr Morrison said the new strains were 'unpredictable' and made outlining a roadmap to freedom very difficult.
'The strains are unpredictable. The variants and their impact on future vaccines and all the rest of it is unpredictable,' he said.
'And once you let it in, you can't get it out and I'm not going to recklessly exchange places with countries in the rest of the world who are suffering from that problem where that got people dying every day. That's not happening in Australia.'
The Prime Minister said the factor that would determine whether Australia could relax international borders would be whether the vaccines prevent hospitalisations.
In the UK, where half the population has been fully vaccinated compared to Australia's measly three per cent, hospitalisation rates jumped 20 per cent over the past week due to the Delta variant - but the hospitalisation rate is now slowing.
'The key figure going forward is how many people are suffering serious illness, and that's what we are watching closely in the United Kingdom,' Mr Morrison said.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian (pictured on Wednesday) has so far managed to fend off a lockdown, instead bringing in restrictions including limited visitors to the home and mandatory masks - even in offices
