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 More than half of Australia's near 26 million population has been in
lockdown in recent weeks after an outbreak of the highly infectious
Delta variant took hold in the New South Wales capital of Sydney and
spread to three states.
New South Wales reported 172 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, up
from 145 a day earlier, with at least 60 spending time in the
community while infectious.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said a decision whether
to lift the five-week lockdown will be taken this week, and local
media later reported the state would announce a four-week extension
of the order on Wednesday. With less than 13% of the state's
population fully vaccinated, curbs are expected to stay.
"We know we've put in the hard yards for five weeks and we don't
want to waste all the good work that we've done by opening too early
and then having the virus spread again," Berejiklian told a media
conference.
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A spokesperson was not immediately available to confirm the media
reports about the planned lockdown extension.
In contrast, Victoria state said most restrictions imposed on July
15 will be removed from Wednesday after recording just 10 infections
of people already in quarantine.
"All in all, this is a good day," Victoria state Premier Daniel
Andrews told reporters in Melbourne.
Victoria's 5 million residents will be allowed to leave home freely
and schools will reopen, though households will not be permitted to
have visitors.
South Australia said it will also lift a lockdown on Wednesday after
it recorded zero COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours.
Lockdowns have raised the prospect of Australia recording its second
recession in as many years, though Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on
Tuesday talk of this was premature.
Frydenberg said last week the country's A$2 trillion ($1.5 trillion)
economy is expected to shrink in the latest GDP figures, with
lockdowns costing about A$300 million daily.
Easing lockdowns will soften the economic toll, but New South Wales
is Australia's biggest state economy and accounts for about a third
of national output.
[to top of second column] |
 VACCINE ROLLOUT CRITICISED
Swift contact tracing, tough social distancing
rules and lockdowns have helped Australia to
keep its COVID-19 numbers low, with just under
33,100 cases and 920 deaths since the pandemic
first appeared in early 2020.
The outbreak in Sydney, however, has seen a wave
of hospitalisations and 10 deaths in recent
weeks.
New South Wales said 169 people are in hospital
with the virus, of which 46 are in intensive
care. Amid heightened concerns
about hospitalisations of younger people, Australia has urged people
to take AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine after struggling to secure
enough supplies of Pfizer's inoculations.
Authorities had previously recommended only over 60s should take the
AstraZeneca shot after rare but serious blood clotting cases.
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told the BBC Australia's
vaccine rollout has been "a colossal failure" because the government
failed to buy enough vaccines.
"It's the biggest failure of public administration I can recall,"
Turnbull said.
Faced with being unable to secure a Pfizer vaccine until at least
September, tens of thousands of people have opted to receive the
AstraZeneca vaccine - though many others have said they will wait.
"I'm kind of opposed to getting AstraZeneca due to the information
that was provided earlier about the blood clots," said Rebecca
Carlisle, who works in human resources in Sydney.
"I'm not willing to get AstraZeneca."
($1 = 1.3552 Australian dollars)
(Additional reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Lincoln Feast and
Barbara Lewis)
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