By Lidia Kelly
MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Australia’s state Victoria, home to more than a quarter of the country’s 25-million population, reported on Sunday 92 new locally acquired coronavirus cases, the highest number in nearly a year.
Victoria and the neighbouring New South Wales, as well as the Australian Capital Territory, have been in lockdowns for weeks, as authorities struggle to quell the highly infectious Delta variant.
Victoria’s lockdown, its sixth since the start of the pandemic, was due to end next week. That is increasingly unlikely with the virus spreading. There are 778 active COVID-19 cases in the state, according to health data.
New South Wales, where infections continue to break new daily records, reaching 1,035 cases on Sunday, is set to slightly ease its restrictions next week. [L8N2PZ04E]
Australia, a country of a loose federal system, has managed COVID-19 outbreaks differently, depending on a state or a territory, causing a heated national debate about the right course of action.
The country’s conservative government has been urging states to reopen their borders once a vaccination target of 70% of those 16 and older is hit.
“Learning to live with the virus is our only hope,” the daily The Age cited Australia Treasurer Josh Frydenberg as saying on Sunday. “To delay and deny that fact is not only wrong but incredibly unrealistic.”
Just 33.7% of people older than 16 have been fully vaccinated, but in recent weeks Australia has been racing to inoculate its population. At current rates, 80% could be vaccinated by mid-November.
The federal government announced a plan last month that envisaged lockdowns as a key to quelling outbreaks until 70% of the population gets vaccinated and a gradual re-opening of Australia’s borders when the number reaches 80%.
With just over 49,900 cases and 993 deaths, however, Australia has kept its COVID-19 numbers relatively low.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
