More freedom in domestic travel could be a "first move" in coming out of coronavirus distancing measures and could be expected as soon as May.
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Currently all Australian states and territories outside of the ACT, NSW and Victoria have closed their borders, but Chief Minister Andrew Barr said if COVID-19 case numbers continued to decline those restrictions might be reconsidered.
"The first move in an unlocking, in a domestic context in Australia, would be more freedom of movement between states and territories," he said.
"That is something people could look towards in May."
Australia's health strategy is to suppress the virus, flattening the curve through social distancing measures and to ramp up testing, but Mr Barr said there was an "optimistic outlook" of short term elimination.
"A particular signal I'm looking towards is that there are no new cases in Australia for two weeks. That would give you a very strong sense that we were very close to a short term elimination of the virus," he said.
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While he expected there could be more "freedom" around domestic travel, Mr Barr said international borders would need to remain strictly quarantined.
"The only way we can maintain our elimination locally is to have very strict quarantine on our national borders, and that obviously has an economic implication and a social implication as well."
The ACT recorded another day of no new cases on Wednesday and with just nine active COVID-19 cases, expansion to testing criteria is expected to be announced on Thursday.
Mr Barr said testing numbers had dropped since borders closed and the trickle of returning travellers slowed.
"One of the challenges not just the ACT but all jurisdictions faced was around availability of testing supplies," he said.
"That has been alleviated somewhat in recent times."
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