Key events
Vaccine development critical to ending pandemic, expert says
Australian National University infectious diseases professor Assoc Prof Sanjaya Senanayake says the world is watching a drop in both Covid-19 deaths and cases as a combination of vaccines and natural immunity has developed.
Senanayake said there are “well over” 100 vaccines in different phases of development and it was important their development continued.
It is really important that we don’t slow down, but we accelerate to the finish line. But you also have to recognise that no pandemic doesn’t mean no Covid.
Covid will become endemic, it will be less intrusive but still part of our lives, so we need to transition to that properly.
On Thursday the World Health Organization said the end of the pandemic is “in sight” with director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus describing the situation as a marathon.
“We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic – we are not there yet, but the end is in sight,” Ghebreyesus said.
“A marathon runner does not stop when the finish line comes into view, she runs harder, with all the energy she has left. So must we.
“We can see the finish line, we’re in a winning position. But now is the worst time to stop running. Now is the time to run harder and make sure we cross the line and reap the rewards of all our hard work.”
Deputy prime minister Richard Marles will be speaking to David Speers on ABC Insiders this morning and prime minister Anthony Albanese has appeared on Sky News from London.
I spoke with Australian media this morning from London, saying what an honour it is to represent Australia at the Queen’s State Funeral Service. Later this morning I will meet with UK Prime Minister @trussliz to extend our nation’s condolences. pic.twitter.com/7Ii7tstSFF
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) September 17, 2022
Good morning
Welcome to another Sunday morning with the Guardian live blog.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is in the UK where he met with King Charles and UK prime minister Liz Truss overnight and paid his respects to Queen Elizabeth II. During an address at Australia House in London on Saturday, Albanese said the “Queen transcended barriers” and that even as a republican he felt “nothing but regard for her”.
Associate Prof Sanjaya Senanayake, an infectious diseases professor at the Australian National University, says that with the World Health Organization flagging an end to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was important that Australia “accelerate to the finish line”. Speaking to ABC TV on Sunday, Senanayake said the end of the pandemic does not mean Covid will disappear, but the disease will need to be managed as it is now endemic.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs taking the blog through the day. With so much going on out there, it’s easy to miss stuff, so if you spot something happening in Australia and think it should be in the blog, you can find me on Twitter at @RoyceRk2 where my DMs are open.
With that, let’s get started …
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