Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison were joined by five other global leaders last night as part of the ‘first mover’ group that had successfully managed the first wave of the coronavirus.
The leaders exchanged views on the situation in their countries and discussed the increase in cases, especially in Europe, with the result that many countries have imposed either severely restrictive measures or a lockdown that leaves part of economic activity and schools in operation.
READ MORE: Scott Morrison joins Greek PM and other world leaders to discuss global COVID-19 response
Scott Morrison says that the countries shared experiences about second waves, avoiding lockdowns, and keeping our economies open safely.
“Thank you Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz for hosting our sixth virtual meeting since the pandemic began and for the update on how Austria is recovering after last week’s terrible terrorist attacks,” the Australian PM added.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis made reference of the developing COVID-19 vaccine, speaking about the need to coordinate the distribution of the vaccine and the technical specifications that this entails, so that the population can be vaccinated as soon as possible.
He also stressed that consistency is needed so that the anticipation of the vaccine does not lead citizens to relax in terms of compliance with the measures.
Speaking about the country’s own situation, the Greek PM said the exponential increase of cases and pressure on the health system led to the imposition of a lockdown for three weeks. He stressed that the next 10 days are crucial and that the goal is for the measures to pay off.
The Greek and Australian leaders were joined in the meeting by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
The world leaders first convened via teleconference in May, discussing the most effective ways to “reopen our economies” and considering strategies to manage potential localised outbreaks.
“We swapped notes on the need to reopen our economies safely, including schools, how to manage localised outbreaks, the importance of rigorous tracing and testing, and keeping supply chains open,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said earlier this year.
