America’s top coronavirus expert Dr Fauci praises Australia’s covid success

America’s top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci has again praised Australia’s efforts in containing the coronavirus and its emerging variants.

Dr Fauci, who was joined by Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly in an online discussion on Wednesday morning, said Australia has fared well during the pandemic when compared to other countries.

‘When Australia shuts down, they shut down and they really do get the cases, (to) almost nothing. We’ve never had that in the United States,’ he told the Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion.

Professor Kelly said while Australia and the US saw their first cases of the virus ‘on almost the same day in late January last year’, the former has managed to control it.

‘A lot of that was due to the way that the leadership at both the political level and the health level, and indeed the economic level, has been so strong in Australia. I think there was an element of luck as well,’ Prof Kelly said.

He especially praised Australians for following health advice.

‘In my whole career, I would say I’ve never been in that situation where our epidemiologists and public health officials have become rock stars,’ Prof Kelly said.

‘They’ve really listened and they’ve taken on board all sorts of things I didn’t think they would.’

Australia has recorded less than 30,000 COVID-19 cases and 909 deaths, largely due to the second wave in Victoria.

Professor Kelly (pictured) said while Australia and the US saw their first cases of the virus ‘on almost the same day in late January last year’, the former has managed to control it

America, meanwhile, has recorded more than 525,000 deaths and more than 29million cases, which is more than the entire population of Australia.

‘That’s just a completely different galaxy…