Lockdowns are on the rise in Australia

In Australia, four of the most populous cities in the country They imposed The closure was closed due to the increase in coronavirus infections present in recent days, particularly due to the spread of the delta variable. Cities that have come under lockdown are Sydney, Darwin, Brisbane and Perth: For all four cities, this is the first lockdown after several months in which restrictions have been eased along with a drop in infections.

Last week, there were an average of 25 cases per day across the country, a very low number compared to the population of 25 million, but as in recent months, the local authorities decided to impose restrictions immediately, to avoid the spread of the virus. Since the start of the pandemic, Australia has recorded just over 30,000 cases and 910 deaths from causes related to COVID-19 and the spread of the virus has been controlled above all thanks to effective containment measures, such as lockdowns, which have also been halted. Imposed after discovering very few cases.

In recent days, Sydney, the capital of the Australian state of New South Wales, was the first city to impose a lockdown. On Saturday, the state’s first minister, Gladys Berejiklian, said, have announced that the entire Sydney metropolitan area will remain closed until at least July 9, and has specified that the restrictions will also affect areas adjacent to the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast and Wollongong. Lockdown rules require people to leave home only for essential purchases, go to work or school, exercise or receive medical treatment.

In Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, a 48-hour lockdown has been imposed since Sunday, after four cases of infection were discovered, caused, according to local health authorities, by a delta type of coronavirus. A three-day lockdown will also begin on Tuesday evening in Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland, which has a population of about 2 million and is Australia’s third most populous city, after Sydney and Melbourne.

Also on Tuesday, a four-day lockdown began in Perth, the capital of Western Australia. The decision was made after three infections were detected in the city, a very low number but prompting the authorities to take immediate measures to avoid the spread of the outbreak.

in Sydney, where more than 5 million people live (almost a quarter of the entire population of Australia), the closure was decided after the discovery of an outbreak of the disease that appeared in Bondi, the city on the famous beach of the same name; The transmission was linked to a driver who transported some people from abroad from the airport to the Bondi area. Altogether, the number of infections linked to the Bundy outbreak has reached about 150 so far.

One factor that led to the decision to immediately impose new lockdowns is the slow pace with which the country’s vaccination drive is going: With less than 5% of the population receiving full vaccinations, Australia lags far behind almost all other countries. The delay in vaccines is mainly due to the fact that Australia has relied heavily on the vaccine made by AstraZeneca, which is partly imported from abroad and partly produced at the Melbourne plant.

The problem is that AstraZeneca has so far only been given to people over 60, while young people have been given the vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech, the only other approved company to date. However, there is less stock of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and it cannot be produced in Australia, only imported. Thus, to speed up vaccinations on Monday evening, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said AstraZeneca could also be given to those under the age of 60, but only after consulting a family doctor.

– Read also: The delta variable continues to spread