Over 150 Australian economists warned the government against easing social distancing rules aimed at stopping the spread of the new coronavirus, even though infection rates have slowed to a minimum, Reuters reported.

Although these measures have slowed the growth of new infections to less than 40 new cases per day, the restrictions are expected to increase unemployment to a 16-year high of about 10%.

Amid growing calls to ease restrictions, leading Australian economists published an open letter calling on the government to prioritize the spread of coronavirus. “We cannot have a functioning economy unless we first comprehensively address the public health crisis,” wrote the group of 157 economists from Australian universities.

The government and central bank of Australia said they would invest $ 203 billion in the country's economy to try to soften the economic blow.

PM Scott Morrison said last week that he would not relax restrictions for at least four weeks, and several state prime ministers called on the public to adhere to social distance rules on Monday. “We’ve all made massive sacrifices, given a lot. We can’t give back all the gains made because of sense of frustration gets the better of us,” said Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews.