Scott Morrison Says Australia Must ‘Overtake’ Omicron Wave

The Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, decided today that the country should “overcome” the wave of infections from the new coronavirus attributed to the much more contagious Omicron variant, at a time when the cases exceeded one million, putting pressure on the system. health and supply chains.

Somewhere half the cases were confirmed last week.

While the strategy of lockdowns and border closures had kept the number of infections relatively low until recently, the Australian Government’s decision to “live with the virus” – after reaching a high level of immunization of the population – coincided with the advent of Omicron and now the country of Oceania breaks one record of infections after another.

The increase in COVID-19 hospital admissions has forced authorities to re-impose restrictive measures in some states, while companies have faced severe staff shortages due to illness or isolation.

Mr Morrison, facing increasing pressure as the election year approaches, intends to push for changes to the isolation rules to allow workers in the food and distribution sectors to work if they come in contact with an asymptomatic case. “Omicron is pushing us to shift gears and we need to get past the wave of infections it is causing,” the Australian prime minister told reporters in the capital Canberra. “We have two choices: either to overtake, or to close. We are in favor of overtaking.”

The head of the right-wing federal government will meet with the prime ministers of the state governments to discuss policy changes to address the pandemic, especially in the key transport sector.

According to Scott Morrison, despite the large volume of infections, the health system is coping. More than 3,500 COVID-19 patients are being treated in Australian hospitals today, up from about 2,000 a week ago.

Health ministry officials said today that the 67,000 cases of SARS-CoV-2 reported in 24 hours may be an “underestimated” number, as some states do not count those who take home antigen tests quickly and test positive. The cases announced yesterday Sunday were just under 100,000.

The total number of SARS-CoV-2 cases reached 1.04 million, after almost two years. The number of deaths due to complications of COVID-19 is 2,837, as the Omicron variant does not bring – so far – an increase in deaths similar to that caused by Delta, which probably contributes to the fact that 92% of citizens over the age of sixteen have take two doses of vaccine.

The booster campaign continues, with the Pfizer vaccination against COVID-19 being started in Australia today.

SOURCE: AMPE