During the COVID-19 outbreak, Australia extends lockdown measures Reuters

By Renju Jose

SYDNEY (Reuters)-On Wednesday, Australian officials extended the lockdown and social distancing measures to more parts of the country. Four major cities are already under strict lockdowns to contain the highly contagious variant of the Delta Coronavirus.

Approximately one-half of Australians are under stay-at-home orders, and during the COVID-19 outbreak in multiple places, millions of people are subject to movement restrictions and forced to wear masks.

As more than 5 million residents of Greater Sydney were under a two-week lockdown before July 9th, New South Wales reported 22 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, all of which were related to previous infections.

This is a slight increase from the previous two days, but still below the peak of 30 new cases reported in the current outbreak on Sunday.

New South Wales Governor Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney: “The case rate in New South Wales has remained stable at this stage… But so far, our worries about a significant escalation have not been realized. Of course we want to maintain this state.”

Since a limousine driver transporting overseas crew members discovered the first infection two weeks ago, there have been approximately 170 new locally transmitted cases. New South Wales is the state or region most affected by the current epidemic.

On Wednesday, residents of Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Darwin were blocked along with residents of the inland town of Alice Springs, the gateway to Uluru, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After a potentially infected passenger used the airport, officials issued a stay-at-home order to the town.

At the same time, South Australia reported its first locally transmitted case in 2021, but did not implement a complete lockdown, saying they believe the threat has been contained.

After they reported five new cases, officials instead restricted family gatherings and urged people to wear masks in public-a miner returning home from a mine in the Northern Territory and his wife and children who have been in self-isolation.

Elsewhere in the country, Queensland has reported three new cases of local infection, Western Australia has recorded one, and the Northern Territory has none.

Singapore said on Wednesday that travelers from Australia must undergo a week-long home quarantine from Friday.

Vaccine problem

The lockdown, strict social distancing, rapid contact tracing and high community compliance have helped Australia quell previous outbreaks and keep its COVID-19 numbers at a relatively low level. Since the beginning of the pandemic, it has reported more than 30,550 cases and 910 deaths.

However, less than 5% of its 20 million adult population have been vaccinated, which has led to criticism of the slow national vaccination efforts.

The federal government announced on Monday that it will compensate doctors who have received AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:) vaccines for people under 60 years of age. They have previously given priority Pfizer (New York Stock Exchange:) The dose for this age group due to thrombosis.

Two deaths were related to the AstraZeneca vaccine, a 52-year-old woman and a 48-year-old woman.

However, Queensland authorities stated that they would not support this initiative, saying it would unnecessarily put their young people in danger.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Janet Young said at a media conference: “I don’t want an 18-year-old person in Queensland to die of blood clotting disease. If they are infected with COVID, he may not die.”