Australian gov't announces further funding for COVID-19 fight

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced funding to extend the COVID-19 health response

CANBERRA, 

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced funding to extend the COVID-19 health response until at least the end of 2021.

Morrison said on Sunday that the 1.1 billion Australian dollars (853.5 million U.S. dollars) in funding would protect Australians from the "ongoing threat of the pandemic."

It takes the total government spending on the health response to the pandemic to more than 23 billion AUD, including about 6 billion AUD on the vaccine rollout.

"We are moving into the sort of post-emergency phase, particularly economically from the end of this month, which is the same time that the COVID-19 response with the vaccination program ramps up to a whole new level," Morrison told reporters after receiving his second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

As of Saturday, more than 160,000 vaccines had been administered in Australia.

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