The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia was part of the worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 January 2020, in Victoria, when a man who had returned from Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, tested positive for the virus.[5] By 6 August 2022, Australia had reported over 11,350,000 cases and 19,265 deaths,[6][3] with Victoria's 2020 second wave having the highest fatality rate per case.
In March 2020, the Australian government established the intergovernmental National Cabinet and declared a human biosecurity emergency in response to the outbreak. Australian borders were closed to all non-residents on 20 March,[7] and returning residents were required to spend two weeks in supervised quarantine hotels from 27 March.[8] Many individual states and territories also closed their borders to varying degrees, with some remaining closed until late 2020,[9] and continuing to periodically close during localised outbreaks.[10] Social distancing rules were introduced on 21 March, and state governments started to close "non-essential" services.[11][12] "Non-essential services" included social gathering venues such as pubs and clubs but unlike many other countries did not include most business operations such as construction, manufacturing and many retail categories.[13] The number of new cases initially grew sharply, then levelled out at about 350 per day around 22 March, and started falling at the beginning of April to under 20 cases per day by the end of the month.[2]
Australia was one of few countries to pursue a zero-COVID "suppression" strategy until late 2021, meaning it aimed to minimise domestic community transmission. Implementation involved strict controls on international arrivals and aggressively responding to local outbreaks with lockdowns and exhaustive contact tracing of domestic COVID-19 clusters.[14][15][16] A second wave of infections emerged in Victoria during May and June 2020, which was attributed to an outbreak at a Melbourne quarantine hotel. The second wave, though largely localised to Melbourne, was much more widespread and deadlier than the first; at its peak, the state had over 7,000 active cases.[17] Victoria underwent a second strict lockdown which eventually lasted almost four months.[18] The wave ended with zero new cases being recorded on 26 October 2020.[19][20][21] No deaths from COVID-19 were
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Australia
- Official site not on record
