Getting children back to school "top national priority": Australian health authority

Australia's deputy chief medical officer has declared that getting children back to school is the "top national priority".

Michael Kidd told Seven Network television on Thursday morning that the potential to eradicate COVID-19 in Australia is "being looked at" amid continued success in preventing its spread.

"As you know, at this time in Australia, we are in the suppression phase where we are trying to drive down new diagnoses to as close to zero as we possibly can," he said.

"But whether this will lead to actual eradication or elimination of the virus in Australia still remains to be seen."

Leaders from federal, state and territory governments will meet in May to discuss about some restrictions that have been in place since March.

Kidd said that governments would be "incredibly cautious" when considering easing those restrictions but that getting children back into schools was "an absolute top national priority".

"We now have three more weeks of the current restrictions in place and then the National Cabinet will be meeting to determine what further lifting of restrictions we can see both at a national level and across the states and territories," he said.

Education policy is dictated by state and territory governments, resulting in a different approach across the country during the pandemic.

New South Wales, by far the hardest-hit Australian state, has announced that schools will begin gradually re-opening from May 11.