Australia: Melbourne’s sixth confinement extended

The Delta variant continues to spread in Australia, despite very restrictive measures against the virus. The authorities therefore decided this Sunday to extend the confinement of Melbourne, the second largest city in the country.

It had been established a fortnight ago, and should have been lifted this week, Thursday, September 2. However, the detection of 92 new cases of Covid-19 on the night of Saturday to Sunday was a game-changer. This is the highest number of daily contaminations for nearly a year.

State Prime Minister Daniel Andrews made the decision to extend the lockdown already in place, but did not specify for how long, assuring that the local government was studying “all options”. The curfew is also maintained, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., and exit permits remain limited.

“We still have too many cases among the population and for too long for us to be able to open and restore … these freedoms that we cherish and that we all want impatiently to regain,” said the Prime Minister.

Soaring cases in Sidney

Jeroen Weimar, who coordinates Victoria State’s Covid-19 response, said of these 92 new cases, 63 were linked to outbreaks known to authorities, according to ABC News.

This worsening pandemic is not limited to the state of Victoria. New South Wales, where the city of Sidney is located, recorded 1,039 cases of coronavirus in 24 hours last Thursday, a first since the start of the pandemic. In total, Australia has around 50,000 cases since the start of the pandemic, and around 1,000 deaths, out of more than 25 million people.

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The authorities therefore encourage vaccination as much as possible, and 70% of the inhabitants of the state, the most affected by the pandemic, are fully vaccinated, against only 26% on average across the country, according to data from CovidTracker. To hope for a complete reopening of the country, the authorities have set a target of at least 70% of the vaccinated population in each of the six states of the country.

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