Australia sees worst day of pandemic amid delta outbreak

Australia has suffered its worst day since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The total daily cases surpassing the previous record posted more than a year ago as a delta variant outbreak spreads as far as New Zealand. On Thursday, New South Wales recorded 681 new cases where stay-at-home orders have been enforced for almost two months.

Meanwhile, Victoria state has recorded more than double from the previous day, and its highest tally since September as Melbourne endures its sixth lockdown since the pandemic began. New South Wales, Victoria and Australian Capital Territory recorded a combined 754 cases in their communities on Thursday, surpassing the nation’s previous high of 725 recorded in early August 2020. Authorities are now finding that lockdown strategies that had previously worked to eliminate community transmissions are struggling to contain the spread of the highly-contagious strain, especially as people grow increasingly weary of the stay-home restrictions. More than half of the country’s 26 million people under lockdown. The Sydney outbreak is spreading rapidly to other regions of Australia. It is posing an unprecedented threat to indigenous communities hundreds of miles away from Australia’s most populous city, including western New South Wales, where more than 150 infections have been detected.

There is a rapid rise in infections which underscores how the two countries’ so-called “Covid Zero” strategy – which has relied on them at restricted international borders and rigorous testing to eliminate community transmission – is under increasing pressure. The case surge has injected a sense of urgency into Australia’s first slow vaccine rollout, which prompted Prime Minister Scott Morrison to be criticized by health experts and political rivals for failing to quickly secure enough shots from a wide range of drugmakers. According to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker, less than 22% of Australians are fully vaccinated.