By Roy Mabasa The Philippine Embassy in Canberra on Monday reported a total of 38 Filipinos infected with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Australia but almost all have already recovered with only eight awaiting their health clearances and return flights to Manila. “We have recorded 38 (COVID-19) cases of Filipinos but these are not onshore or here in Australian land but seafarers. The good news is that 37 have been cleared and actually, we just have around eight left awaiting for health clearances and their flights,” Ambassador Hellen Dela Vega said in a phone patch interview at the regular Laging Handa briefing of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID). According to the COVID-19 global monitoring site Worldometer, Australia has a total of 6,948 coronavirus cases with 6,167 recoveries and 97 deaths. Dela Vega attributed both the slowing down of COVID-19 cases since April and the high recovery rate of patients in Australia to the early interventions implemented in both the state and federal levels. “It’s important to contextualize that Australia was among the first to put up stringent measures like the social distancing and physical distancing measures. Even without the COVID-19, the degree of health standards, quarantine, and even biosecurity measures here in Australia is very high,” she noted. Another important element, she added, is the obedience and discipline of the people. “In the early weeks of the pandemic that there were violations, they immediately remedied the situation.” Another best practice that can be possibly replicated in the Philippines is the Australians’ use of COVID apps in their battle against the spread of the pandemic. “The COVID apps which was introduced about three weeks ago here in Australia has been encouraging all, knowing that most of the people here are techy, in both state and federal level. It’s one of the best practices that we can apply in the Philippines because we can say we are a cellphone country,” she said. The Philippine envoy said the Australian government is currently moving towards a “phase-approach” policy to keep Australia a COVID-safe place such by implementing restricted international travels, social and physical distancing, and limiting the number of people in mass gatherings.