Because Of The Australian Football Final Nobar, Melbourne Prints A Record For COVID-19 Infection Cases

JAKARTA - Melbourne, the capital of the Australian State of Victoria, has again set a record daily COVID-19 infection case, despite being under a stay-at-home lockdown.

Under lockdown orders for the sixth time since early August, to combat the Delta variant outbreak, Melbourne reported 1,438 new cases of COVID-19 infection Thursday.

Melbourne authorities said the spike was caused by illegal house gatherings for sporting events. Authorities estimate that nearly a third of the 1,438 new infections can be traced back to parties at home last weekend to watching the Australian Rules Football Grand Final on television.

"Many of these cases were completely avoidable. I'm not trying to blame anyone, I'm just trying to explain because a lot of people will be scratching their heads how it went up so much, so fast," State Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said during the conference. press, citing Reuters September 30.

Officials acknowledged Thursday's number of cases saw a 50 percent jump from cases reported the day before, at 950, calling it a major setback in dealing with the pandemic, as the state races to vaccinate the state's 5.5 million adult population.

Half of the state's population aged over 16 had received their first dose, below the national average of 53 percent, as officials halved the interval between Pfizer injections at state-run vaccine centers to three weeks after supplies increased.

Australia's biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, and the capital Canberra have also been in lockdown for weeks to combat a third wave of infections sparked by the fast-moving Delta variant. Making the authorities choose to speed up the vaccination program, rather than chasing zero COVID.

A total of 941 new cases were reported in New South Wales on Thursday, the majority in the state capital Sydney, while Queensland recorded six and the Australian capital region 31 infections.

Victoria's record COVID-19 infection case comes as the federal government today decided to halt emergency financial support for businesses affected by the lockdown in line with its plans to end support for employees affected by the virus.

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said payments would be temporarily suspended once 80 percent of the state and territory's adult population had been fully vaccinated.

However, Victorian businesses will receive new support of A$2.27 billion, or about $1.65 billion from the federal government over the next six weeks, during which the state must hit that dose target, from about 50 percent now.

"We can't get rid of the virus, we need to learn to live with it in a COVID-safe way," Frydenberg said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged all states and territories to start living with the virus, after full-dose COVID-19 vaccine recipients hit 70 percent - 80 percent, but Queensland and Western Australia, which are mostly COVID-free, said they could delay reopening.