Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison, on Friday advised against “non-essential” mass gatherings in a bid to combat the spread of coronavirus.
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The government, however, urged the cancellation of all organised and non-essential gatherings of 500 people or greater from Monday henceforth.
Morrison said the move was based on the medical advice about the growing evidence of an increasing number of cases on the evidence of community transmission of the coronavirus throughout Australia.
He added that the restrictions does not include: schools, university lectures, as well as people on public transport or airports.
“Generally speaking we are talking about a static gathering where people are together for a period of perhaps up to two hours, that’s generally where you have a high risk of exposure,” he said.
The Chief Medical Officer of Australia, Brendan Murphy, said that it was a precautionary measure to get ahead of the spread of the epidemic.