Australia's centre-left Labor government on Thursday said it would hold an independent inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic to better prepare for future health crises.
Australia closed its international borders and locked down cities among other pandemic restrictions that helped keep infections and deaths far below levels in other comparable developed economies such as the United States and Britain.
It shifted to living with the virus in early 2022 after a majority of the population was vaccinated.
A three-member panel, which includes an epidemiologist, public service expert and economist, will conduct the inquiry, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a media conference.
"We need to examine what went right, what could be done better with a focus on the future," Albanese said. "Because the health experts and the science tells us that this pandemic may ... not likely to be the last one that occurs."
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