12/14/2022 0 Comments Australian lockdown![]() ![]() ![]() "It is absolutely confronting and we didn't use it lightly.It seems that Australia’s class divide has widened during the pandemic – and compassion has been thrown out of the window. "The conditions in Sydney right now we felt warranted that commercial," Frewen said. Lieutenant General John Frewen, head of the COVID-19 vaccination taskforce, on Monday defended a newly-released advertisement showing a youthful-looking intubated woman in a hospital bed struggling to breathe and urging people to get vaccinated. The state government said it would open a vaccination hub in western Sydney, the epicentre of the outbreak, on Friday to give more than 10,000 teachers and school staff in the area priority access to inoculations.Īngelo Gavrielatos, president of the state's Teachers Federation, said the move was "a welcome first step in what should be the prioritisation of all teachers". NSW officials have also recommended shortening the interval to six weeks between AstraZeneca vaccination doses from the recommended 12 weeks. However, New South Wales authorities said vaccination centres and pharmacies would now be authorised to give the AstraZeneca vaccine to anyone over 40. Just 11% of Australia's adult population of just over 20.5 million have been fully vaccinated.Ĭritics have pointed to confusing public advice as well as vaccine shortages.įederal health guidance recommends the locally-produced AstraZeneca vaccine be restricted to people aged over 60 because of blood clot concerns, while the imported Pfizer vaccine is currently limited to people between 40 and 60. The Sydney outbreak has put Australia's sluggish vaccine rollout under scrutiny. With a total of around 31,200 cases and 911 deaths since the pandemic began, the country has fared better than many other developed economies. Lockdown measures for Sydney's five million residents, including school closures and stay-at-home orders, have stoked concerns of a slowdown in the economy, which had returned to pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter.ĭebbie Brincat has cut opening hours at the pet store she runs with her husband Andrew in the western suburb of Fairfield to just four hours a day in response to the movement restrictions.Īndrew's Bird & Pet Palace, which the couple has operated for almost 40 years, took A$150 in sales on Sunday, compared with an average of more than A$3000 ($2,245).īrincat told Reuters she was "very scared at the moment" and was unsure if the business would qualify for government financial support.Īustralia has previously successfully suppressed COVID-19 flare-ups through snap lockdowns, speedy contact tracing and tough social distancing rules. Sixty-three people are in hospital, with 18 in intensive care, officials said, while a woman in her 90s became the country's first COVID-19 fatality this year. ![]() Total infections in the outbreak are nearing 700, less than a month since the first was detected in mid-June. I can't be clearer than that."īerejiklian said most of Monday's cases were family members or close friends of already infected people, and pleaded with residents to comply with lockdown rules, which were tightened over the weekend. The health expert advice will be based on what those numbers look like. "That's the number we need to get as close to zero as possible," Berejiklian said during her daily televised briefing. State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the progress of that figure in coming days would determine whether Sydney's lockdown, due to end on Friday, would be extended. ![]()
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