Australian scientists have come up with a 10-point plan to increase Victoria's chances of eliminating COVID-19 during their six-week lockdown.
The state's current outbreak has led to experts calling on the Australian government for an elimination, rather than suppression, strategy.
Dr Bowtell, an adjunct professor at the University of NSW, told ABC Radio that Australia was on the verge of eliminating the disease.
"We've got the evidence in front of our eyes," he said.
"I don't think people want to go through six weeks of lockdown in the middle of a Melbourne winter and come out the other end wondering whether there'll be another one if cases surge again.
"Let's go for it, I think."
But some experts, like infectious diseases professor Peter Collignon, believe elimination would be "very difficult to achieve and even more difficult to sustain".
The Australian government's deputy chief medical officer, Dr Nick Coatsworth, has also said eliminating COVID-19 in Australia is "a false hope".
Now leading epidemiologists have come up with a plan they say will significantly increase the chances of eliminating the virus.
Professor Tony Blakely and his colleagues wrote that "Melbourne and Victoria should not waste the opportunity this lockdown presents".
"We know from New Zealand and Taiwan that elimination of community transmission is achievable in island jurisdictions, both having no reported community transmission for over two months as of 10 July," they wrote.
"The advantage of elimination is that despite international border closures or strict quarantine, citizens can go about life with a near-normal functioning of their society and economy.
"Living in a state or country that has achieved elimination is a far better option than suppression in the short- to medium-term, compared with the high likelihood of recurrent outbreaks precipitating recurrent lockdowns with attendant social and economic disruption."
They said there is only a marginal cost of "going hard" with a more restrictive lockdown and while implementing the plan "cannot guarantee" elimination of the virus, "we argue that it would be a bigger failure to not enhance the probability of elimination by augmenting the current lockdown now".
Their 10-point plan includes:
- Strong and decisive leadership with strategic clarity.
- Convening an advisory group of experts in the elimination strategy and COVID-19 public health response.
- Close all schools until the daily rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection without a known source falls.
- Tighten the definition of essential shops to remain open.
- Require mask-wearing in indoor environments where 1.5m physical distancing cannot be ensured.
- Tighten the definition of essential workers and work.
- Require mask-wearing by essential workers whenever they are in close contact with people other than those in their immediate "household bubble".
- Ensure financial and other support to businesses, community and other groups most affected by more stringent stay-at-home and lockdown requirements.
- Further strengthen contact tracing to ensure the majority of notifications (and their close contacts) are interviewed within 24 hours and placed in isolation if necessary.
- Extend suspension of international arrivals into Victorian quarantine and divert resources.
They said this along with increased policies on mask-wearing can increase the chances of eliminating COVID-19.
