COVID: 80 Australian CEOs write letter to State Premiers seeking end of lockdown

Amidst the escalating COVID delta variant cases, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of around 80 Australian companies urged the State Premiers to "chart a path out of" the countrywide lockdown. On Wednesday, the CEOs forwarded an open letter to the government authorities asking to end the ongoing lockdowns since June 2021. Earlier, the said lockdowns also triggered several protests across major cities in the island continent.

Through the letter, the company heads requested the governments to "work together to implement a National Plan," The Australia Financial Review quoted from the letter. The companies that signed the letter included Australian airline Qantas, retail chain operator Coles, Telecommunication giant Telstra and major banks. As per reports, the companies altogether employ over 1 million Australians. 

"Providing a light at the end of the tunnel will encourage more Australians to get vaccinated," the letter stated.

As per the letter, the companies aimed to "give people something to hope for." The letter explained that the abrogation of the lockdown will "encourage more Australians to get vaccinated." The paper also briefly mentioned the far-reaching consequences" of the protracted lockdown, ANI reported.

Australia ramps up vaccine rollout

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that they have reached a deal with Singapore to acquire a large stock of Pfizer vaccines to accelerate vaccine rollout in Australia. As per the Associated Press report, Australia will get around 500,000 extra doses of COVID jabs in a swap deal next week. The island continent will receive the stockpile in return for delivering the same number of vaccines to Singapore in December. Australia has administered the first dose of COVID jabs to over 8 lakh citizens in the past week. In New South Wales (NSW), about 65% received their first doses, while another 35% were completely vaccinated.

State Premier urges people to get jabbed

As hospitals in Australia witnessed a steep surge in Covid-related in-patients, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian called out to the citizens to get their COVID vaccines. "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. She also 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. 

As of June 1, NSW recorded a daily caseload of 1,116 new local cases. On August 29, the state reported six new COVID-related deaths of persons who were not fully vaccinated. The country's largest cities Melbourne, Sydney, including capital city Canberra, have continued to witness a steep rise in COVID cases amidst the weeks-long lockdown, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Meanwhile, hospitals in Sydney are running at their maximum capacity as 80% of fresh cases are reported from the city.

With inputs from AP

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