Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told restaurants that open their doors this weekend they are "backing their country" and commended their "bravery".
"Good on you for reopening, and I'm sure your patrons will come and support you strongly," Mr Morrison said.
He acknowledged allowing just 10 diners at a time "won't necessarily be a profitable patronage for them".
But he congratulated them, as the federal government is keen to get the economy moving again in the face of dire economic data and the huge costs of the stimulus package.
"They're backing themselves, they're backing their staff, they're backing their communities and they're backing their country. And I want to commend them for that brave step that they're taking this weekend," he said.
He was speaking a day after data showed 2.7 million Australians have lost their jobs, or had their hours reduced since the March shutdown.
READ MORE:
- Canberra restaurants are re-open for in-house service
- India repatriation flight arrives in Canberra
- Future of university research left in 'incredibly precarious' position
But chief medical officer Brendan Murphy continued to urge caution.
"As people start to go back to some normal activities ... please, please be careful," he said.
Professor Murphy said he had briefed the national cabinet on Friday about the serious inflammatory syndrome affecting children with coronavirus overseas.
He told the leaders the virus was so rare it was unlikely to be seen in Australia at all, given the low number of infections in children here.
"It's still not clear what the association with the virus is for this condition, but it is extremely rare," he said.
Professor Murphy said the national cabinet had also discussed the quarantine period for returned travellers and made it clear that no amount of testing changed the need for a two-week quarantine. A negative test did not mean someone was not incubating the virus, he said.
"There's been a bit of misinformation around about that, but you can't test your way out of quarantine," he said.
More to come ...
