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 Authorities in Victoria, home to Melbourne, estimated nearly a third
of Thursday's 1,438 new infections could be traced back to home
parties last weekend to watch the Australian Rules Football Grand
Final on television.
"Many of these cases were completely avoidable ... I'm not trying to
blame anyone, I'm simply trying to explain because a lot of people
will be scratching their heads - how could it have gone up by so
much, so fast," state Premier Daniel Andrews said during a media
briefing.
Officials admitted Thursday's numbers, a 50% jump to Wednesday's 950
cases, is a "major setback" in managing the flare-up, as they race
to vaccinate the state's 5.5 million adult population.
Half of the state's population above 16 have received their first
dose, below the national average of 53%, as officials halved the
intervals between Pfizer shots in state-run vaccine hubs to three
weeks after supplies rose.
Australia's largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, and the capital
Canberra are in a weeks-long lockdown to combat a third wave of
infections fuelled by the fast-moving Delta variant. Authorities
have ditched a COVID-zero strategy and are looking at higher
vaccination as their exit strategy from lockdowns.
A total of 941 new cases were reported in New South Wales on
Thursday, the majority in state capital Sydney, while Queensland
recorded six and the Australian Capital Territory 31 infections.
EASING FINANCIAL SUPPORT
The record cases in Victoria come as the federal government on
Thursday decided to phase out its emergency financial support for
businesses impacted by the lockdowns, in line with its plan to end
support to virus-impacted employees.
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 Federal Treasurer Josh
Frydenberg said the temporary payments will stop
once 80% of the adult population in states and
territories becomes fully vaccinated.
But Victoria's businesses will receive a fresh A$2.27 billion ($1.65
billion) support from the federal government through the next six
weeks at which point the state should hit that dosage target, from
around 50% now.
"We can't eliminate the virus, we need to learn to live with it in a
COVID-safe way", Frydenberg said in a statement.
The federal government decision to wind down support payments,
shared equally between states and Canberra, will put pressure on
virus-free states to keep their economies open and avoid lockdowns
to fight future outbreaks.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been pressing all states and
territories to begin living with the virus once full inoculations
reach 70%-80% but Queensland and Western Australia, largely COVID-free,
flagged they may delay their reopening.
Despite the latest Delta outbreaks, total cases in Australia stand
at around 105,000 and deaths at 1,291, well below other comparable
nations. Eleven new deaths were recorded in the country.
($1 = 1.3778 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Renju Jose; additional reporting by Sonali Paul in
Melbourne; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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