Australia warns of possibility of new COVID-19 outbreak with over 30,000 fresh infections

Australian health authorities, on Monday, announced the possibility of a fresh COVID-19 outbreak as the country recorded over 30,000 new cases in the past days. Australian Capital Territory (ACT), which houses capital Canberra, alone recorded a 7-day average of 1,015 cases in the past week. Noting the upward graph, ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith revealed that analytical modelling has indicated that Canberra is experiencing another wave of COVID-19 cases.

"We are seeing those case numbers starting to increase and we expect that is potentially the start of another wave of COVID-19 through this winter period into July and potentially into early August," ACT Health Minister Smith said, as quoted by Canberra Times.

Smith added that ACT authorities are "keeping a close eye" on the number of infections to determine a trajectory that is going to be maintained. This comes as ACT recorded a drastic rise in COVID-related hospitalisations in the last week. As per the ACT Health Ministry report, at least 121 infected people needing immediate medical attention were admitted to hospitals dedicated to treating COVID patients. This is the highest since the resurgence of the infections and the first recorded case in the island continent.

As per a Xinhua report, the spike in hospitalisations was recorded after an outbreak in a cancer ward at the Canberra Hospital. The clinical director of the ward, Paul Craft told ABC Radio that the authorities were still investigating the primary and secondary contact of the infected person to ascertain how it spread. "It has been a little difficult to track where the virus has spread through the population since then, we are still working on that," Craft said, adding that it would "probably be a long time before it is exactly clear how the outbreak occurred."

COVID cases in Australia

More than 30,000 new COVID-19 cases and more than 70 deaths were reported in Australia on Tuesday. On Monday, at least 3,133 COVID patients were being treated in hospitals nationwide. The sudden spike has led to the total number of COVID cases in Australia reaching 80,23,259 since the beginning of the pandemic and 9,704 deaths. Currently, there are 2,26,653 active cases in the country, as per the federal health department.

Meanwhile, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released its first tranche of data covering how the COVID pandemic changed demographically in the two years. The census data reflected the impact of "major catastrophe" on the Australian population, which was mostly adverse, said Dr Liz Allen, a demographer at Australian Nation University. "Australia would be older, whiter, smaller," had the pandemic not happened, she added.

(Image: AP)