COVID-19 Vaccination Achievement Approaching 90 Percent, Sydney Expands Social Restrictions Easing Starting Today

Illustration of Sydney, Australia. (Wikimedia Commons/Pavel)

JAKARTA - Australia's largest city, Sydney will extend its easing of social distancing restrictions starting today, a month after coming out of a nearly 100-day coronavirus lockdown, as the two-dose COVID-19 vaccination rate has reached 90 percent.

While limited to people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the relaxation in the state of New South Wales, home to Sydney, among other measures removes restrictions on house guests or outdoor gatherings.

"We are leading the country out of the pandemic," said State Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet, as he called for the "final push" to reach, and even exceed the 95 percent vaccination milestone.

While several hundred people staged an anti-vaccine protest on Sunday in the state capital Sydney, such opposition has been scant in Australia, where polls show the number of opponents of vaccination is in the single digits.

Meanwhile, the southeastern state of Victoria recorded most of Australia's 1.417 new coronavirus cases, with public health figures showing 10 more deaths.

There were no new infections in the remote Northern Territory, where the lockdown was quickly extended to midnight on Monday, to contain minor outbreaks in some areas.

To note, Australia crossed the 80 percent limit of full inoculation on Saturday last week.

"That will give us all confidence in terms of openness," Federal Treasury Secretary Simon Birmingham told broadcaster Channel 9 in an interview on Sunday.

Australia eased international border restrictions on Monday for the first time during the pandemic, but only for the public vaccinated against COVID-19 from countries with high vaccination rates.

However, domestic travel is still hampered, as most states and territories close internal borders. Western Australian states will reopen when they reach 90 percent levels of double-dose COVID-19 vaccine, the prime minister said.

Despite the Delta variant outbreak that led to months of lockdowns in the two largest cities Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's tally of COVID-19 infections is much lower than many developed countries, with more than 180.000 cases of infection and 1.597 deaths.