Australia’s planning and preparedness for a health emergency response has served us well in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, rapid and agile decisions were required to manage the public health impact. In the face of uncertainty and the seemingly evolving nature of the virus, we have seen precautionary actions and outcomes beyond that articulated in planning. The timely closure of international borders, requiring 14-day quarantine of returning travellers in designated facilities, is one such outcome; yet potentially the single most effective measure in controlling the pandemic in Australia. Our testing strategy, case and contact management, social restrictions and community measures have successfully suppressed the virus to a level of no domestic community transmission. The framework for this success was the effective utilisation of existing public health committees, whole of government leadership and responsiveness at all levels and community support. With the impending commencement of the COVID-19 vaccine program, this framework continues to support navigating our way out of the pandemic.

澳大利亚在应对COVID-19大流行方面，对紧急卫生响应的计划和准备工作对我们很有帮助。尽管如此，仍需要做出迅速而灵活的决策来管理对公共健康的影响。面对病毒的不确定性和看似不断发展的性质，我们已经看到预防性行动和结果超出了计划中明确规定的范围。这样的结果之一就是及时关闭国际边界，需要在指定的设施中对返回的旅客进行14天隔离。然而，这可能是控制澳大利亚大流行的最有效措施。我们的测试策略，案例和联系人管理，社会限制和社区措施已成功地将该病毒抑制到了没有家庭社区传播的水平。成功的框架是有效利用现有的公共卫生委员会，各级政府的整体领导和响应能力以及社区的支持。随着即将开始的COVID-19疫苗计划的实施，该框架将继续支持我们走出大流行的道路。