The Project hosts slam 'ridiculous' ban on Aussie travellers in Europe

The Project hosts have blasted European countries implementing 'ridiculous' bans on travelling Australians following the rise in Covid cases late last year.

The European Council has listed Australia, Canada and Argentina as high risk 'Covid danger zone' countries, recommending to countries including France, Italy and Spain to not let Aussies in, despite the fact they have higher infection rates.

Steve Price unleashed on the mandate, calling it hypocritical coming from countries that haven't managed the virus optimally since the pandemic began.

"Fancy these joints over there callings us dirty, filthy, Aussie Covid carriers," he said.

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While Australia did see a surge in infections prior to Christmas, the outbreak is stabilising with NSW and Victoria both seeing a reduction in cases.

In Europe, there are more cases per 100,000 people in Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, France, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy and Portugal.

The European Council removed Australia from its 'white list', their recommendation system that encourages member countries not to allow in people from countries with more than 75 cases per 100,000 people.

Last week, Australia's seven-day average was at 274 per 100,000 people, this week it has dropped to 250 per 100,000.

In comparison, Denmark's seven-day average showed 657 new infections per 100,000 residents, while France sits at 538 per 100,000.

Italy, Greece and Cyprus will not impose any travel bans on Australians.

The Project's Peter van Onselen slammed the inconsistent messages from the countries.

"On the numbers, it's ridiculous," he said. "Not only in overall terms for the size of the population have they had been two and three times as many cases but even on current daily cases related to population size, European countries like France, Spain and Italy all are having more cases per day than we are.

"So are they advising their citizens to don't go to Australia, and are they also saying leave Europe, leave your own country."

NSW's Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said last week a "variety of indicators" showed the spread of the virus was slowing within the community.

She said hospitalisations, staff in isolation, absentee data from a wide range of industries and case positivity rates pointed to a decline in transmission.

"That all gives us a sense that the spread of COVID is slowing and it is pleasing to see and we want to thank the community and acknowledge the actions of everyone in contributing to that," she said.

Modelling predicted the Omicron wave in NSW would peak this month, which would be followed by a stabilisation of hospital numbers.

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