Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday that the country would allocate $30.8 million to provide mental health assistance to its citizens amid the COVID-19 pandemic
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th May, 2020) Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday that the country would allocate $30.8 million to provide mental health assistance to its citizens amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the prime minister's office, the country has seen a 25-56 percent increase each in calls to its crisis and support services, compared to the same time last year.
"We also today adopted the National Mental Health and Wellbeing Pandemic Response Plan put together by [CEO of the National Mental Health Commission] Christine Morgan, working closely together with the states and territories. And today we are committing $48.1 million [Australian] Dollars in additional support for the implementation of that plan," Morrison said, following a meeting of the National Cabinet, as quoted by his website.
The allocated funds will be used to improve mental health research in the country, as well as to support vulnerable groups.
"There have been over 7,000 confirmed cases in Australia and sadly 98 people have died. There are now less than 1,000 active cases in Australia, and over the past week, daily infection rates have remained low. Testing remains high, with more than 950,000 tests undertaken in Australia," the office of the prime minister said in a statement.
The country's human biosecurity emergency regime has been extended from June 17 to September 17.
