Australia's Chief Medical Officer says ‘high risk’ live music events are still a long way off

Australia’s top medical professional has warned live music events and mass public gatherings are still a long way off.

Professor Paul Kelly said he was sorry that live music events were still off the table as they were “so attractive and such fun” particularly for the younger generation.

However, speaking to Brisbane newspaper The Courier-Mail today, Professor Kelly advised "we are looking at the particular issues in relation to music events and when you think about it, they are relatively high risk.

“Large numbers of people, often multi-day events, lots of close contact, dancing and singing and so forth, all of these things are higher risk than some other mass gatherings, so they have a particular component to them and at the moment I must admit it is not front of mind.

“In terms of what Western Australia or even the NT for example may decide to do, of course they can do their own developments within those states which have had less cases and continue to have less cases. They are wary.

“They have seen what‘s happened in Victoria which virtually eliminated the virus just as recently as six or seven weeks ago and how that can develop. It‘s a cautious approach at the moment and in terms of specific advice or planning, it’s not happening right now.”