Australia gets delivery of Pfizer doses from UK as Sydney's COVID-19 cases may hit peak

Authorities in New South Wales, Australia, the epicentre of the country's worst COVID-19 outbreak, said on Monday, 6 September that daily infections were anticipated to peak next week, as they rushed immunisations ahead of easing restrictions. Australia is attempting to manage the third wave of COVID-19 that has shut down its two main cities, Sydney and Melbourne, as well as its capital, Canberra, forcing more than half of its 25 million people to stay at home, said reports.

Officials are attempting to speed up the vaccine distribution in order to reduce deaths and hospitalisations, with the government promising greater freedom of movement if 70-80% of the population over the age of 16 has been vaccinated. Currently, just over 38% of Australia's adult population is completely vaccinated, with the country on track to reach 70% by early November based on current rates.

COVID-19 vaccination drive in Australia

Last week, Australia went into vaccine swap agreements with the United Kingdom and Singapore for a total of around 4.5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, more than doubling this month's supply, according to reports. As per the vaccine swap agreements, Australia will return similar numbers of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to the United Kingdom and Singapore later this year. Lieutenant General John Frewen, chairman of the vaccination taskforce, stated that one million doses of Moderna will arrive in Australia in "a week or two," making it the third vaccine to join the rollout, following Pfizer and AstraZeneca injections.

COVID-19 management in Australia

Gladys Berejiklian, Premier of New South Wales, said the government's modelling suggested that the state would require the most intensive care beds in early October, with "additional pressure on the system" in the coming weeks. The daily COVID-19 infections in worst-affected neighbourhoods of Sydney might reach 2,000 by the middle of this month, as per the modelling.

There are now 1,071 COVID-19 cases in hospitals, with 177 persons in intensive care units (ICUs), 67 of whom require ventilation. To deal with the pandemic, officials claimed they tripled the number of ICU beds in the state to around 2,000 early last year. The state reported 1,281 new cases on Monday, the most of which were in Sydney, down from 1,485 the day before. Five new deaths have been reported. On Monday, Victoria state, which contains Melbourne, reported 246 new cases, the highest daily increase of the year. Despite recent outbreaks, Australia's coronavirus population has remained relatively low, with approximately 63,000 cases and 1,044 deaths.

Picture Credit: AP