Federal and state leaders will meet on Thursday and are expected to start drawing up an exit strategy for when the worst of the coronavirus is over.
However, Morrison said this morning safeguards must first be put in place and the country’s health services must be bolstered before restrictions are eased.
Morrison said evidence in other countries shows the coronavirus can quickly return if restrictions are lifted too soon.
“You’ve seen in places like Singapore and Sweden and other parts of the world where the virus has just taken off again,” he told Today.
“We can’t have those sort of things happen here in Australia.
“We have to do everything we can do to prevent that.”
His comments echoed the World Health Organization (WHO), which has warned that any relaxing of restrictions must be closely managed by national governments.
“The way down is much slower than the way up,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“That means control measures must be lifted slowly and with control.
“It cannot happen all at once.”
To date, Australia has recorded 6359 confirmed coronavirus cases and 61 deaths from the disease.
