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Updated August 30th, 2021 at 12:49 IST

As Australia plans reopening, COVID-19 cases hit record high

Despite invoking strict restrictions, several states of Australia including, New South Wales witnessing an abrupt surge in Covid cases due to delta variant.

Reported by: Ajeet Kumar
Australia Plans Reopening
Image Credit: AP | Image:self
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Despite invoking strict restrictions, several states of Australia including, New South Wales, Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra are witnessing an abrupt surge in COVID-19 cases. On August 29, Sunday, the country recorded 1,003 fresh cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours while four people lost their lives due to the deadly virus. According to the reports, those who lost their lives were not vaccinated for the COVID-19. According to the health ministry data, the country had reported its highest case on August 28 with 1,218 covid cases and six deaths. As the cases soar abruptly within days, the government, as well as private hospitals, are working under high pressure. According to the government data, a total of 113 people in the state are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the rest are under quarantine.  

COVID-19 deaths in Australia increase

It is important to note that Sydney, Australia's largest city, has been in lockdown for two months, while Melbourne and the capital, Canberra, went into lockdown earlier this month. The government invoked strict measures in order to confine most of the population to their homes and provided limited space for social interactions. The government underlined the need to ramp up the vaccination as the current restrictions have not yielded the desired results. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian extended her deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of those six individuals.

NSW Premier appeals to citizens to get vaccinated

Berejiklian said she was pleased with the progress of vaccinations in the state. Berejiklian told reporters that the Sydney hospitals are running at their maximum capacity as 80% of the fresh COVID Cases are reported from a single city. She said in the past week, as many as 8,34,000 people received the first jab of the vaccine in the state. She further informed that While 65 per cent of adults in NSW have now received one vaccination, 35 per cent are now fully vaccinated. "I am really calling out to everybody to say please get vaccinated because ... there will be opportunities in September and October for us to be able to say to the community if you are vaccinated, you might be able to do a certain level of activity which you can’t now,” Berejiklian had said.

Despite record covid cases, Australia plans reopening

Meanwhile, the authorities in Sydney announced to ease the lockdown restrictions for those who have received both doses of the COVID vaccine. However, the recent announcement attracted criticism from the health experts as the highly contagious delta variant is spreading across the state. "This is very challenging, I know, for every single Victorian who would like to be going about their business. They’d like to be open and have a degree of freedom that's simply not possible because of this delta variant," Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said. “If we were to open, then we would see cases akin to what’s happening, tragically, in Sydney right now,” Andrews added. It is worth noting that Australia has managed to keep the pandemic under control as the country recorded just over 46,600 cases and 986 deaths since the country reported its first case. 

(Image Credit: AP)

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Published August 30th, 2021 at 12:49 IST

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