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Updated August 10th, 2021 at 18:03 IST

COVID-19: Australia to stay under lockdown as Coronavirus cases continue to surge

As the country reeling under the highly contagious Delta variant of Coronavirus, the Australian government on Tuesday decided to expand the COVID lockdown.

Reported by: Ajeet Kumar
Australia
Image: AP | Image:self
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As the country is reeling under the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus, the Australian government on Tuesday decided to expand the COVID-19 lockdown to arrest the spread of the virus. According to the health ministry, the country's most populous state is reporting a new daily high of 356 coronavirus infections. The ministry data said that the New South Wales region has reported four covid related deaths on Tuesday. One of the latest deaths is a man in his 80s who was infected overseas, while the rest caught the virus locally.

COVID-19 lockdown to continue till inoculation figures reach 70%

According to Jeroen Weimar, commander of Victoria's COVID-19 response team, several cases were reported around the Caroline Springs Square shopping centre. He claimed that half of the cases were linked to the retail area. It is worth noting that more than 8 million people including the Greater Sydney region are in lockdown for the last six weeks. The health authorities said that 22% of adults had been fully vaccinated by Monday. The officials said that the covid restriction would be eased after the inoculation figure goes above 70%. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison dismissed a proposal to pay people to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and also rejected media reports that claimed to introduce a law that would allow employers to mandate COVID-19 vaccines.

Lockdown protests trigger COVID-19 surge in Sydney

Since last week, Sydney and other parts of the country have been reeling under a massive COVID-19 surge after a mob of over a thousand people broke barriers and threw plastic bottles and plants on the streets in order to protest against the ongoing lockdown. Meanwhile, police cordoned off the city’s central district in order to prohibit the people from organising any protest in the vulnerable areas. The local administration has set up checkpoints and deployed over 1,000 police officers in order to disperse crowds. According to a report by an Australian news agency, the rally organisers asked the protestors to avoid gathering due to the recent surge and were directed to assemble on some other dates.

Till now, Australia managed to control COVID-19 

It is worth noting that Australia has managed to keep the pandemic under control with a total of just over 37,000 cases and 943 deaths reported since the country reported its first case. New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard informed that there are 198 people in the hospital, 53 of them in ICU and 27 are using breathing aid. He also informed that one person was died due to COVID was reportedly involved in the ongoing protest. 

(With inputs from AP)

(Image Credit: AP)

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Published August 10th, 2021 at 18:03 IST

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