Australia recorded, this Saturday, 1126 new infections of SARS-CoV-2, the country’s record for daily infections since the start of the pandemic.
Most of the infections, 1035, occurred in the state of New South Wales, the epicenter of this latest wave, which began last June due to the delta version of the new coronavirus, which was first identified in India. Nearly half the population has been in captivity for weeks, mostly in Sydney and Melbourne, the country’s most populous cities.
With nearly 50,000 cases and 993 deaths already recorded, Australia has been less affected by the pandemic than other countries in Europe or the Americas, but the delta version shows the government’s strategy to eliminate the new coronavirus in the country. defeated.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has insisted for days that the priority now is to increase vaccination rates and reduce hospitalizations, as he considers it “highly unlikely” that infections can be reduced to zero. .
In an interview given to the “ABC” network last Sunday, Morrison insisted that confinement was no longer “a sustainable way of fighting the virus.”
Officials plan to ease most restrictions when 70 to 80% of children aged 16 and older are vaccinated, which is expected at the end of November.
So far, more than 6.9 million Australians, or 33.7% of 16+ year olds in the country, have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, after a slow start that has intensified in recent weeks.
The prime minister announced on Friday that teens aged 12 to 15 can get the vaccine from September 13, when an expert panel said Pfizer’s vaccine was “safe and effective” in this age group.
