Australia: Hospitals in Sydney running at maximum capacity as COVID cases soar

Despite invoking strict restrictions, Australia's New South Wales has been reeling under the highly contagious Delta variant of the COVID-19. This comes after the state reported its worst Coronavirus tally of 919 new infections on August 24, Tuesday. 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. Meanwhile, Kerry Chant, State Chief Health Officer during a presser in Sydney, appealed to the citizens to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Further, she added that the authorities are planning to cover the covid hotspot areas at the earliest in order to arrest the spread of the deadly virus.  

Sydney hospitals are running at their maximum capacity: Berejiklian

It is worth noting that Australia's second-largest cities, Melbourne, Sydney and New South Wales are reeling under the highly contagious Delta variant of Coronavirus since the latest outbreak was detected in mid-June. Subsequently, the authorities expand the COVID-induced lockdown to curb the spread of the virus. According to the government data, 31% of the eligible population have been fully vaccinated for the COVID-19, while 54% have had at least one dose. Earlier today, NSW Premier Gladys 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.

September and October will be the most challenging months 

Despite record soaring of cases, Berejiklian had earlier told the Associated Press (AP) that the authorities are planning to ease some COVID lockdown restrictions for vaccinated residents from next month. "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.

"September and October will be the most challenging months for us in terms of public policy, in terms of how we move forward, because we wouldn’t have reached the 70% but yet we would have increased vaccination rates," the New South Wales Premier added.

Sydney to ease restrictions for people vaccinated against COVID

Meanwhile, the authorities in Sydney had also 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. 

(With inputs from AP)

(Image Credit: AP)