Covid In Australia: Australia’s most populous state hits 10-week high in Covid cases.
Sydney:
Australia will push ahead with plans to ease Covid restrictions before Christmas, officials said on Tuesday, even as new coronavirus infections in the country’s most populous state hit a 10-year high. week.
Following a flurry of infections linked to holiday parties in and around Sydney, New South Wales state recorded more than 800 new cases on Tuesday – the highest total since October 2.
There have been seven related deaths reported nationwide.
Authorities said the new cases would not prevent them from waiving most public mask-wearing requirements from Wednesday or lifting a ban on unvaccinated citizens from entering restaurants, bars and bars. big events.
“We have decided as a country to live with this virus,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, promoting high vaccination rates as a guarantee of a virtually unrestricted holiday season. .
He said: “This Christmas we are about to have a gift that Australians have given themselves, by working with the settings we have put in place.
After the initial vaccine rollout on ice, more than 89% of Australians over 16 years of age have now received two doses of the vaccine and 93% have received their first shot.
The interval required before the third booster dose was shortened from six months after the second dose to five months for better resistance.
Australia has also detected more than 85 cases of the Omicron variant, which is believed to be more transmissible and more resistant to vaccines.
Many Western countries have begun to re-impose restrictions as they try to roll out boosters and the number of cases increases.
New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard said he was “very concerned” about not enough people getting the booster shot, but pledged not to introduce any rapid method of lockdown.
“My concern is that once the unvaccinated mix with the vaccinated, you’d have to expect the numbers to go up even more and that’s worrisome because that puts pressure on the our doctors and nurses as well as our frontline health system,” Hazzard said.
Adding to the pressure, Australia is working hard before reopening its domestic and international borders, welcoming back vaccinated migrants and students from Wednesday.
And after a prolonged shutdown that has separated family and friends for months, tropical Queensland opened its borders to hotspot areas on Monday while the island state of Tasmania will follow suit on Wednesday.
Only Western Australia – a vast, mineral-rich region with a long history of independence – will be closed for the holidays, with borders closed until 5 February.
Announcing plans to build a Moderna mRNA vaccine production facility in Melbourne, Morrison insisted Australia was “better prepared than most other countries in the world to deal with this issue and continues to look ahead”. Face this virus and live with it.”
Australia has recorded more than 230,000 cases of Covid-19 and 2,113 deaths related to its population of 25 million since the pandemic began.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from the feed provided.)
