PM: Australia not attempting to eradicate virus

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday ruled out the prospect of the country attempting to eradicate the coronavirus, describing it as a risky strategy "that can be very illusory."

Australia initially enjoyed similar success to that of neighbouring New Zealand in suppressing the spread of COVID-19 in the early weeks of the pandemic.

Australia adopted a suppression strategy, while New Zealand pursued full eradication.

The strategy has succeeded in New Zealand, which has gone 76 days without a community-spread infection and has active cases only among quarantined people who traveled abroad.

But just as Australia was lifting its lockdown restrictions, breaches of quarantine control led to community spread in Victoria state.

Its largest city, Melbourne, has been locked down again for six weeks.

Morrison said Victoria's daily high Thursday was a concerning setback but an Australian eradication policy would be more expensive.

It would also render the population more complacent and vulnerable to new outbreaks, the prime minister said.

"You can't mortgage off your economy for what would prove to be an illusory goal," Morrison said.

(Image credit: AP)