Today is a “black” day for its largest city Australia, Sydney, as it was recorded as the deadliest of the pandemic. Members of the armed forces and police set up roadblocks to restrict the movement of civilians.
Melbourne residents, meanwhile, have been banned from traffic at night and another two weeks of lockdown amid rising cases.
According to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, Sydney, which is in its eighth week lockdown, is the epicenter of the third wave of COVID-19 in Australia, which threatens to push the Australian $ 2 trillion (approximately € 1.24 trillion) Australian economy into its second recession in as many years.
New South Wales Prime Minister Gladys Beretziklian said seven people had died from COVID-19 in Sydney in the past 24 hours, surpassing the previous state record set earlier this month.
Beretziklian added that 478 new cases were also reported in New South Wales, the largest increase in a day since the pandemic broke out.
“Transmission numbers in our community are alarmingly high,” the New South Wales prime minister told reporters in Sydney.
“Every death corresponds to a person who had loved ones, who died in tragic circumstances, and we express from the bottom of our hearts our condolences to all these loved ones and their families.”
Authorities also confirmed the death of a 15-year-old from Sydney, who had pneumococcal meningitis and COVID-19.
Australia has recorded 55 deaths from COVID-19 since July 11, after more than three months without any losses. A total of 966 deaths have been recorded in the country from the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
The report comes as 200 members of the armed forces are deployed in Sydney to set up roadblocks in the worst-hit areas amid persistent reports of people disobeying Lockdown rules. They mobilized in addition to the 500 troops deployed last month.
Lockdown
As only 26% of people over the age of 16 have been fully vaccinated in the country, Australia is vulnerable to the most contagious Delta strain of the new coronavirus, which is spreading at a steady rate in the country.
At a time when the cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Darwin – where the lockdown is in effect today – are all under severe restrictions, cases are rising steadily.
Victoria Andrews, Prime Minister of the state of Victoria, said that Melbourne will remain in Lockdown until September 2, after the registration of 22 new cases.
The city’s five million inhabitants are also subject to a night traffic ban.
“We are at a critical juncture. “Today we simply have no choice but to further strengthen this lockdown,” Andrews told reporters in Melbourne.
Outbreaks appear to be exacerbated by people who break the rules, he added. On one occasion, police fined each of the 69 people who attended an engagement party violating the quarantine Australian $ 5,500 (approximately € 3,400).
Canberra, the country’s capital, announced 19 new cases today, the largest increase in a single day, as it extended the lockdown it had imposed for another two weeks.
The Australian economy recovered strongly from the initial wave of the pandemic, with unemployment falling to its lowest level in more than a decade at 4.9% in June.
However, as many of the east coast cities with the largest population are now in Lockdown, economists are expecting a heavy toll.
“Unemployment could rise again to 5.5% in the coming months, driven mainly by (New South Wales),” said Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP.
Vaccines
The outbreak and sluggish vaccination campaign have rekindled pressure on Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who is due to call elections before May 2022.
Morrison said Sunday that Australia had bought about 1 million doses of Pfizer vaccines from Poland as it moved quickly to buy surplus stocks.
The Australian Prime Minister has refused to comment on the amount the country has paid for these vaccines, which will be added to the 40 million doses ordered by his government from Pfizer.
Morrison also noted that more than half the doses from Poland will be given to vaccinate the 20-39-year-old team in Sydney’s worst-hit suburbs.
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