The draconian lockdowns being enforced in some states to control the coronavirus are probably too strict before the winter flu season hits, a leading infectious disease expert has cautioned.
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And ANU professor Peter Collignon says it looks like earlier measures to close down places where people gather in large numbers have succeeded in "squashing" the curve of increase in infections.
His hopeful assessment comes as federal and state leaders met to thrash out relief for home and business rents under immense pressure during the coronavirus pandemic.
The medical officers advising leaders have offered cautious hope the rate of new cases of the virus has slowed in recent days, with the average daily increase now at seven per cent.
Prof Collignon says the news is better than that.
"All the evidence that I can see is we're actually doing better than flattening the curve, we're actually making it go down," he told AAP on Friday.
"It started changing on March 25, so what we did with all those other things - that put a million people out of work, admittedly - they're the things that had the effect."
He said the rate of new infections was falling before NSW and Victoria put in severe restrictions on travel that have led to police moving people on from sitting in parks.
Prof Collignon didn't think that level of measures was medically necessary at the moment.
"How can somebody outside, two metres away from everybody else in the sunshine, possibly either give or get the virus from anyone else?" he said.
"It just strikes me as non-sensible because the time when we need people to comply with maybe more stringent things is winter."
While he thinks restrictions on places such as pubs, clubs and other areas where people gather should be in place until September or October, he thinks governments should have held off tougher restrictions on travel until they could see if things started getting out of control during winter's flu season.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned strict physical distancing rules could be in place for more than six months.
He urged patience as police and the public make major changes to curb the spread of the virus, which has infected more than one million people globally.
"Give the police a fair go. They're trying to do something fairly difficult. We can't expect them to have perfect execution," Mr Morrison told 2GB radio on Friday.
The prime minister also issued a stern rebuke to 16,000 Australians who travelled overseas despite being told not to.
"We can't afford that because if people behave like that, then we lose lives," he said.
Mr Morrison said he was bewildered and frustrated by people's wilful defiance of the government's "do not travel" order.
National cabinet took a more detailed look at how to protect commercial and residential tenants, as well as landlords, from the economic shockwave.
Childcare regulation was another key agenda item at Friday's meeting.
The federal government announced a $1.6 billion childcare package on Thursday aimed at keeping centres open through the outbreak.
Australia's coronavirus death toll rose to 25 on Friday after a Victorian man in his 80s died in hospital overnight.
More than 5200 cases have been recorded nationally, although health authorities have been encouraged by a fall in infection rates.
Australia is leading the world in testing, with about one per cent of the population screened for the virus.
Australian Associated Press
