Sydney: Australia on Thursday announced an inquiry into its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to fortress-like restrictions, slow lockdowns and a slow initial rollout of vaccines.
The country imposed some of the world’s strictest restrictions during the pandemic, closed foreign borders for two years and locked down most major cities for months.
For much of the pandemic, the strategy worked, but the rest of the regulations led to an increase in detected cases. High vaccination rates have limited the number of deaths.
“It’s a very disturbing time in our lives, but we got through it,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters.
“We want to take a look at what worked well and what can be done better by focusing on the future. “
The 12-month independent investigation will look at the federal government’s response, the government said.
This includes the provision of vaccines, treatments, and medical supplies; monetary assistance for Americans and businesses; intellectual aptitude support; and assistance to Australians overseas.
It will review more than 20 previous Covid-19 investigations.
Some of them have been organized through Australian states, which have implemented health-related measures such as lockdowns, testing, tracing, quarantine and hospitals, as well as their own border controls.
In a notable mistake, an earlier New South Wales investigation found that “serious” errors led to an outbreak when thousands of passengers were allowed to disembark from the Ruby Princess cruise ship shipped to Sydney on March 19, 2020, before its effects of Covid-19. were available.
Since January 2020, the country of 26 million people has recorded more than 11 million Covid-19 cases and 22,800 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.
“It’s time to be informed about our reaction to this pandemic,” said Health Minister Mark Butler.
Australia wants to see what it did well “but also what we’ve done better” in its reaction to Covid-19, so it can use those classes in a long-term pandemic, he said.
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