Australia sees spike in COVID-19 cases despite lockdown

Australia’s 2 largest states reported crisp increases successful caller COVID-19 cases connected Wednesday, a stroke to hopes that lockdown orders would beryllium lifted with much than fractional the country’s colonisation nether stay-at-home orders.

New South Wales state, location to the country’s astir populous metropolis Sydney, logged 110 caller cases, up from 78 the time before, astir 4 weeks into a lockdown of the metropolis and surrounding areas to incorporate an outbreak of the virulent Delta variant.

Victoria authorities clocked 22 caller cases, from 9 the time before, its biggest summation since the outbreak began this month, adjacent arsenic it nears its 2nd week of statewide lockdown.

“Had we not gone into the lockdown a fewer weeks ago, the 110 fig contiguous would undoubtedly person been thousands and thousands,” said NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian astatine a televised quality conference.

“But we request to enactment harder and, of course, each of america request to beryllium connected guard,” she added.

Health leaders person said their top interest is the fig of radical progressive successful the assemblage earlier receiving their coronavirus diagnosis, and that the fig should beryllium adjacent zero earlier lifting lockdown.

Berejiklian said that fig jumped to 43 connected Wednesday, treble the erstwhile day, and that she could not accidental until the pursuing week whether the metropolis would exit lockdown by a July 30 target.

Trending Stories

Victorian authorities, however, said 16 of its 22 caller cases were successful quarantine during their infectious period, portion vulnerability sites for the remaining six were “reasonably low” owed to lockdown restrictions.

A 3rd state, South Australia, besides went into its archetypal afloat time of a weeklong lockdown connected Wednesday, and reported 1 further case.

A twelvemonth and a fractional into the pandemic, immoderate 13 cardinal Australians are nether hard lockdown, raising unit connected the national authorities which has seen its polling astatine its lowest successful a twelvemonth owed to a sluggish immunisation program. Just implicit 11 per cent of the colonisation is afloat vaccinated.

So far, the main vaccine successful the government’s arsenal, developed by AstraZeneca Plc, has been recommended for usage lone for radical aged implicit 60 by the country’s cause regulator owed to a distant hazard of humor clotting, portion a vaccine made by Pfizer Inc has been restricted to over-40s owed to constricted supply.

“We person done arsenic overmuch arsenic is humanly imaginable but the contented is we request much vaccines, we request much Pfizer,” said NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard astatine the quality conference.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has been criticised for saying past twelvemonth that the vaccine rollout was “not a race,” went connected section vigor to support the program, but acknowledged it was astir 2 months down plan.

“I recognize determination is large vexation … but this latest Delta variant has thrown a wholly caller curveball connected this issue, which each azygous state successful the satellite is wrestling with,” Morrison told 1 vigor station.

Still, Australia has fared amended than galore different developed economies successful keeping COVID-19 numbers comparatively low, with conscionable implicit 32,100 cases and 915 deaths.