Australia: Hospitals set up tents to treat COVID patients as NSW records over 1,000 cases

Amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, Australia's new daily cases of COVID-19 on August 26 surpassed 1,000 for the first time since the pandemic began. According to Daily Mail, two major hospitals in Sydney have become so overrun that they have been forced to set up emergency makeshift units to help deal with the rise in coronavirus patients. New South Wales state recorded 1,029 new locally acquired cases, exceeding the previous record of 919 a day earlier. Of the new cases, 969 were detected in greater Sydney, which is up from 838.

During a televised media conference, State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that officials have quadrupled the number of the state’s intensive care ventilators to 2,000 early last year. She added that although the system is “under pressure”, it can still withstand the current crisis once vaccination rates rise. “It might be different to the help you got before because of the situation, but please know the system is kicking in,” Berejiklian said. 

As per reports, of 116 people in intensive care in NSW, 102 are not inoculated. Three new deaths were reported, taking deaths from the latest outbreak to 79. It must be noted that Australia witnessed the second wave in mid-June of this year and since then the coronavirus cases have reached more than 15,000.

With the increasing number of cases, the Australian government has extended the lockdown orders till September 10. The Health Ministry has also instructed people to stay at home unless they have a reasonable excuse to leave. They said that they can also not have visitors in their homes from outside their households. 

Vaccinated people will be allowed more freedom 

Besides Sydney, Melbourne, and the capital, Canberra, are also in hard lockdowns. Cases in Victoria also surged to 80 on Thursday, which is up from 45 a day earlier. The federal government is pushing ahead with the country's reopening plans once vaccination rates reach 70 per cent to 80 per cent. However, some states have hinted they may delay given the rapid growth of cases in Sydney.

As per the Australian Health Ministry, those people who have received both shots of anti-COVID-19 will be "allowed more freedom next month, after NSW hit the target of six million jabs".

(Image: AP/PIXABAY)