Canberra: More than 1 million Australians have been tested for COVID-19, medical authorities said on Sunday.
As of Sunday, there had been 7,044 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia, reports Xinhua news agency.
“There have been over 1 million tests for COVID-19 carried out in Australia, to be exact 1,015,652 tests conducted right across the country,” Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd said on Saturday afternoon.
Kidd said that despite Australia’s success in preventing the spread of the virus, health experts were concerned about the mental health toll that the virus was having.
“We recognize that many people are experiencing anxiety and stress and fear as a result of the pandemic,” he said.
“Many people are experiencing very significant financial stress due to job losses. Many people are feeling very lonely and isolated, separated from family members and loved ones in other parts of the country, or overseas.”
States and territories have begun allowing cafes and restaurants to gradually re-open for the first time since March, but Kidd said that Australians must remain vigilant and continue to follow physical distancing guidelines.
“With restrictions being relaxed a little across each of the states and territories over the past week, we still need to remain vigilant, we still all need to be doing our part to ensure that we don’t experience a resurgence of cases in Australia,” he said.
