Fact check: did Scott Morrison really save 40,000 lives from Covid?

Compared to most other countries, Australia was relatively unscathed by the pandemic, although its health results were achieved by severe measures, including lockdowns and border closures.

But how is this calculated, is it the whole story and who gets the credit for this boast?

In 2020 and 2021, 0.15% of the population in OECD countries died of Covid which, if applied to the Australian population, is about 40,000, he said.

The second thing to note is: the 40,000 figure only compares 2020 and 2021, not 2022, a year in which hospitalisations and deaths increased significantly due to eased restrictions despite very high rates of vaccination.

Indigenous Australians contracted the Delta strain at double the rates of non-Indigenous Australians. Indigenous vaccination rates (82% of those aged 12 and over) still lag the rest of the population, and 105 Indigenous people have died since the start of the pandemic.