Australia has chosen to flatten the curve rather than attempt to eradicate coronavirus, according to an epidemiologist.

University of Melbourne’s Epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely argued earlier in the week that Australia had 48 hours to choose between eradication or flattening the curve.

He tells Alan Jones the federal government has clearly chosen its coronavirus strategy.

“We got utter clarity last night from Scott Morrison, the direction we’ve chosen.

“We’re going to flatten the curve, we’re not going to go for eradication like New Zealand, we’re going to ride this one out, so we’re into flattening the curve.

“If we’d gone for eradication it would have been utter lockdown for three months with a 50/50 chance of success but we might have come out of that by about June, July, with a country where we can move around freely but no one can come in or out.”

The Professor says we need to continue to protect people aged over 60.

“If we just let this thing roll we’re talking 130,000 deaths. If we lower the infection rate amongst those people 60 plus from 60 per cent down, which is what it will be on average, to 20 per cent… we will halve the death rate.

“So protecting our elderly people, protecting those with chronic conditions, and just letting the infection slowly spread through the rest of the population.”

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Image: Getty/Luis Ascui