Prior to the arrival of the delta variant, Australia managed to suppress Covid-19 cases.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SYDNEY — Two major hospitals west of Sydney, Australia, on Thursday (26/8) set up emergency tents outdoors to help deal with an increase in patients as the city grapples with the worst of the Delta variant of the coronavirus wave. Sydney which is the largest city in Australia has become the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
Sydney is struggling to stamp out the plague varian Delta highly contagious, with daily infection cases reaching record levels even after two months under lockdown strict. A total of 919 Covid-19 cases were recorded on Wednesday (25/8). It was the biggest daily rise in cases, with nearly 9,000 new cases added in the past two weeks.
Temporary unit in the emergency department for Covid-19 patient will help stop the (admission of patients) delays, said a spokesman for the Local Health District Sydney West told Reuters on Thursday.
Westmead and Blacktown hospitals have been grappling with a steady increase in the number of Covid-19 patients, and it’s forcing officials to shift ambulances to other hospitals, the Australian Paramedical Association (APA) said.
In a video posted on Twitter late Wednesday, the APA said paramedics were given the option of waiting in vehicles with a Covid-19 positive patient or waiting outside in the freezing cold due to the increasing influx of patients.
Cases of infection with the fast-transmitting Delta variant of the coronavirus have eclipsed Australia’s initial success in fighting the virus outbreak which has kept its number of cases of coronavirus infection relatively low, with around 46,700 cases and 986 deaths.
Apart from Sydney, the country’s second-largest city, Melbourne, and the Australian capital, Canberra, have also implemented strict lockdowns. The lockdowns in the two cities have put more than half of Australia’s 25 million people under strict stay-at-home orders.
Covid-19 cases in the state of Victoria, where the city of Melbourne is located, jumped to 80 cases on Thursday, up from 45 cases from the day before.
Australia’s federal government pushed for plans to reopen the country after vaccination rates hit 70-80 percent. However, several states have hinted that they may delay opening due to the rapid growth of Covid-19 cases in Sydney.
About 32 percent of people over the age of 16 have been fully vaccinated. While more than 54 percent had received at least one dose of the vaccine.
source: Between
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