Authorities are turning their focus to shoring up Australia’s biosecurity as the country emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cases of mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis are being recorded in NSW for the first time ever after the insects were blown into Australia by tropics cyclones.

NSW Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders told Mark Levy the pandemic exposed the need to consider stronger measures to mitigate the spread of foreign viruses.

“Mozzie-borne disease are a concern,” he said. “We’ve got diseases up in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea that we have to try and keep out.

“A real focus that COVID has set [is] we need to be ready for … more of those viruses in other products.

“Whether it’s plant products or animals, we need to keep them out of Australia.”

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Image: Nine News