The experience of coronavirus can be compared to waves of infections introduced to Australia in the 18th century, Tasmania's director of public health Mark Veitch said. Dr Veitch warned of the risks of waves of COVID-19 infection, in comparison to "devastating epidemics" that have occurred throughout history in Australia and North America. "While we have a population that is largely non-immune to coronavirus infection, there is always a risk of reintroduction into that community, and waves of infection," he said. "This is a little bit like some countries - Australia in the 18th century or even North America - where there were populations there that had lived there for sometimes thousands of years without experience of the infections that were common in the Western world at the time. "When those infections were introduced to those countries, there were devastating epidemics that occurred in them - in waves - and that's what happens when you introduce an infection into an immunologocially naive population that has no defence. "There's a long history over hundreds of years of this risk of new infections." In line with some relaxation isolation measures, Dr Veitch said Public Health were setting in place adequate contact tracing and ability to detect cases and stamp out cases. "That way when we relax measures, if we do start to see cases we're in a position to stamp out those chains of transmission before it becomes a new wave," he said. Earlier this week Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton called for the resignation of Victoria's deputy chief medical officer, after she compared the pandemic to the arrival of Captain Cook. Mr Dutton has been under pressure for allowing the disembarkation of passengers on the Ruby Princess cruise ship, which has been identified as the most likely cause of the North-West outbreak.
The experience of coronavirus can be compared to waves of infections introduced to Australia in the 18th century, Tasmania's director of public health Mark Veitch said.
Dr Veitch warned of the risks of waves of COVID-19 infection, in comparison to "devastating epidemics" that have occurred throughout history in Australia and North America.
"While we have a population that is largely non-immune to coronavirus infection, there is always a risk of reintroduction into that community, and waves of infection," he said.
"This is a little bit like some countries - Australia in the 18th century or even North America - where there were populations there that had lived there for sometimes thousands of years without experience of the infections that were common in the Western world at the time.
"When those infections were introduced to those countries, there were devastating epidemics that occurred in them - in waves - and that's what happens when you introduce an infection into an immunologocially naive population that has no defence.
"There's a long history over hundreds of years of this risk of new infections."
In line with some relaxation isolation measures, Dr Veitch said Public Health were setting in place adequate contact tracing and ability to detect cases and stamp out cases.
"That way when we relax measures, if we do start to see cases we're in a position to stamp out those chains of transmission before it becomes a new wave," he said.
Earlier this week Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton called for the resignation of Victoria's deputy chief medical officer, after she compared the pandemic to the arrival of Captain Cook.
Mr Dutton has been under pressure for allowing the disembarkation of passengers on the Ruby Princess cruise ship, which has been identified as the most likely cause of the North-West outbreak.
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