Australia has reinstated measures to curb the spread of covid-19, such as mandatory indoor mask use, public space restrictions and certification checks, as the daily number of new cases reached a record high, mainly due to the highly contagious variant strain Omicron.
These measures affect 17 million people and are a change in the government’s plans for full opening of the country, after almost two years of imposing and lifting lockdowns.
The number of new covid-19 infections is growing rapidly, despite the fact that more than 90% of Australians are fully immunized.
Hospitalizations and deaths remain low, but the outbreak raises fears that many health workers will fall ill.
In the past 24 hours, more than 8,200 new cases of covid-19 have been detected in Australia, the highest daily number since the pandemic broke out and much higher than the 5,600 reported a day earlier. Most cases were reported in Victoria and New South Wales.
Authorities in New South Wales, home to one-third of Australia’s 25 million people, have said they are reinstating the use of masks indoors, in public places, and have asked restaurants, bars and other places to reduce the number of people they accept and reinstate vaccination certificate checks.
“Today’s changes are prudent, cautious and a precautionary approach as we move from this festive season to the end of January,” said New South Wales Prime Minister Dominique Perotet.
To date, Perotet has called on state authorities to continue their plans to lift the restrictions once a specific vaccination rate is reached. At the same time, he firmly refused to reinstate the mandatory use of masks indoors, something that health officials demanded, believing that the time had come for Australians to learn to live with the virus.
Victoria, which has almost the same population as New South Wales, has also reintroduced mandatory mask use, stressing the need to reduce weight in the health care system.
Western Australia, where very few cases of covid-19 have been reported and is virtually cut off from the rest of the country, has called for nightclubs to be closed and large public events to be canceled, while dancing has been banned and the use of a mask has been made mandatory. All this after the location of a French tourist who tested positive for Delta. The man had visited many clubs and other indoor, public places, authorities explained.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has vowed not to impose a lockdown on the country again, stressing that Australians will now have to take responsibility for managing their health.
In another rhetoric today, Perotet urged people to avoid diagnostic tests if they come in contact with a covid-19 case but show no symptoms.
In Australia there are complaints of waiting hours at test centers as many people rush to take diagnostic tests to travel ahead of Christmas. Perotet said that “this puts a lot of pressure on the system (…) but we have to make sure that those who need to do the test do it on time.”
Most states require travelers a negative 72-hour test to enter their territory, despite Morrison urging them to relax.
There are currently around 44,000 active cases in Australia, with 800 people being treated. Omicron’s cases are only 37, while from this strain only one death has been reported and one patient who is hospitalized in an intensive care unit.
A total of 273,000 cases of covid-19 and 2,173 deaths have been reported in Australia.
Source: AMPE
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Source From: Capital
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