Dec 28, 2021: Australia recorded another record rise in COVID-19 infections on Tuesday as the spread of highly contagious Omicron variety hindered the economy from reopening, while state leaders discussed domestic border controls.
The country reported 10,269 new cases of the corona virus yesterday, surpassing a peak of the previous day.
As the new variant rages across the country, the state of South Australia, which has been experiencing a flare-up, was yet to report its latest numbers.
Five COVID-19 deaths have been reported, bringing the total number of deaths since the onset of the pandemic to just 2,200. Authorities did not say whether any of the new deaths were from the Omicron type.
The variant, which medical experts say is more portable but less dangerous than previous strains, began to spread in Australia as the country reopened after nearly two years of stop-start lockdown.
With the resumption of a growing number of cases – despite a vaccination rate of over 90% for Australians over the age of 16 – the country’s state leaders are required to wear mandatory masks in public places and check QR codes. Some of these containment measures have been reversed. Rising cases have forced thousands of workers in the hospitality, entertainment and airline sectors to isolate themselves – the sectors most affected by the lockdown. As a result, theater shows, closed restaurants and flights were postponed.
New South Wales (NSW), home to Sydney and a third of Australia’s 25 million population, called on neighbouring Queensland to shift from mandatory clinical testing at the point of origin to on-the-spot rapid antigen testing for people travelling there.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said a quarter of clinical tests in his state were “tourism tests” for asymptomatic people, which puts a lot of pressure on the health system, with long queues of tests and results. In one case, a testing clinic in Sydney sent false negative test results to 400 positive people, then prematurely sent negative results to 950 people when 486 tested positive.
Hazzard said the shock was “the result of human error, and that human error is greater when people are under pressure.”
He called on Queensland to abolish mandatory clinical trials immediately after January 1, but Queensland officials said the policy was working.
Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath instead said the state would remove another testing rule for interstate arrivals: people arriving in the state would not have to be tested for the virus five days after arrival.
Australia’s international border is effectively closed, but Australians can return without the mandatory hotel quarantine and the country has said it will allow some skilled workers and foreign students to enter.
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