The state of New South Wales will be able to ease the lockdown by the end of August in Australia, if 50% of the population is vaccinated, despite the fact that COVID-19 cases remain close to a 16-month high.
According to the Athens News Agency, the lifting of restrictions in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, will give impetus to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who is under great pressure for his government’s handling of vaccines, with the threat of a second economic recession to remain.
New South Wales fights to curb rising case of highly contagious strain Delta of the coronavirus in Sydney, the largest city in the country, despite the imposition of the lockdown, which is scheduled to be lifted on August 29.
Although New South Wales today reported 199 new cases of domestic contamination in the last 24 hours, close to the highest number of 239 16-day daily cases recorded last week, State Prime Minister Gladys Beretziklian said the restrictions will be removed if six million people have been vaccinated by the scheduled lockdown date.
“Six million vaccines means that about 50% of the population (will have received) at least one or two doses,” Beretziklian told reporters in Sydney. “This gives us additional options for what life will be like on August 29.”
She did not say exactly how many have been fully vaccinated in New South Wales to date, but said the state is moving toward that goal.
Beretziklian stressed the number of people who have been infected and are still moving around the community, noting that it needs to be reduced.
Australia largely managed to keep COVID-19 numbers low, with just over 34,500 cases and 925 deaths.
Vaccination campaign
However, the immunization campaign has encountered serious problems due to changes in medical recommendations for the AstraZeneca vaccine due to thrombosis concerns and restrictions on receiving Pfizer vaccines.
The New South Wales vaccination target comes just days after Prime Minister Morrison promised that lockdowns would be “less likely” once the country vaccinated 70% of its population over the age of 16, up from 19%. who has been vaccinated to date.
Morrison expects that 70% of the population will be vaccinated by the end of the year.
The state of Queensland today reported 16 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. This is the largest number of daily cases in a year.
Qantas Airways Ltd, meanwhile, is temporarily shutting down about 2,500 employees for about two months in a bid to tackle new anti-COVID-19 restrictions in Australia that have reduced domestic flight demand.
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