Hunter New England Local Health District (HNELHD) public health physician, Dr David Durrheim, has praised the community for helping to stem the spread of COVID-19, but says vigilance is still needed.
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With National Cabinet expected to announce this week which social distancing restrictions will be lifted first, Dr Durrheim predicts they'll take a step-wise approach rather than allow a broad range of activities to resume at once.
"That would be our preference," he said.
In particular, Dr Durrheim advised against the reopening of pubs, clubs, restaurants and cafes and the resumption of organised sport, saying now was not the time.
"We need to see how the virus responds to the small measures that have been taken," he said.
"I think pubs will be a way down the road."
Dr Durrheim said pubs posed an issue in terms of controlling both hygiene and social distancing measures.
Likewise, he believed organised sport could present similar problems.
"The more people you bring together from various communities the more opportunity there is for the virus to spread," he said.
HNELHD has not recorded a new case of COVID-19 in the past seven days, which is the longest period without a case in the district since the pandemic took hold.
While Dr Durrheim described this as "a fantastic effort" and the direct result of a collaborative approach between the government, the health sector, the police and the public, he said other countries had already experienced the consequences of peeling back restrictions too early.
"I think people have realised they don't want those things to happen," he said.
"We may see the virus escape into the community again and cause the havoc we saw in March."
Dr Durrheim said the health sector was a lot better equipped to respond to an increase in outbreaks now, with broader laboratory testing in place across the country, but he urged people not to get complacent.
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With winter fast approaching, Dr Durrheim was unsure how the virus would respond, but he said the cooler weather could provide it with an advantage.
"We know with other respiratory viruses it provides the opportunity for them to last longer," he said.
And while efforts to find a COVID-19 vaccine are progressing, with promising results coming out of the Jenner Institute in England, Dr Durrheim says measures such as regular hand hygiene, meticulous cough and sneeze etiquette, and following social distancing guidelines will remain the most effective way to stop the spread for some time.
"There's still plenty of time before we see definitive results from those (vaccines)," he said.
