Australia has become an example for other countries to follow due to the way it has managed to control the Covid-19 pandemic. The country hardly registers cases and, when it detects one, it works from the first moment to prevent the virus from spreading throughout the rest of its territory. The recent outbreak linked to a Melbourne Airport hotel is a prime example. Despite having only 19 confirmed cases so far, the Australian authorities have decided to confine the state of Victoria from this Friday until Wednesday. This implies that from this Friday night you will not be able to leave the house except to carry out essential work, care tasks, essential purchases or exercise in a limited radius. Classes are also suspended after high school and public meetings are prohibited.
But Australia’s measures go further. This outbreak arises from travelers who are quarantining a hotel in the country, something that is imposed on all tourists even if they have a negative PCR, since the borders have been closed since the outbreak of the pandemic. And as has happened with this outbreak, the country has followed the same line every time it has detected cases: take measures and impose restrictions from the beginning, without waiting for the cases to increase. To do this, tracking work is also essential: when an outbreak is detected, those tracked work to establish its origin and reach all contacts. For this reason, virus detection tests also play a fundamental role, which are free and reach the population in a massive way.
