“It could be longer,” Morrison told A Current Affair during a live interview with Tracy Grimshaw.
“There’s no quick fix to this.”
The prime minister said the government’s framework of six months was based off modelling done in the early stages of the pandemic, and that he continued to use this figure to emphasise to Australians that the crisis and measures to contain it will be a long-term fixture.
The hope is that in six months if the virus has peaked, the government may then be able to begin easing measures.
He admitted, however, that there is no certainty around that timeframe as the “modelling changes every day”.
Morrison also refuted claims that Australia did not close its borders soon enough.
“Two-thirds of cases have been imported … but they are from Australians coming home,” he declared.
“We can’t stop Australians coming home.
“When you close the borders, you can’t close them to Australians.”
Morrison said it was difficult to determine whether Australia has got the virus under control, but that the government is closely monitoring the daily rate of infection and community transmission rates.
He added that the latter were still relatively low in Australia, which was a good sign.
“We are flattening this curve and we are in a position to get through this,” he said.
