Having Fallen For Three Consecutive Days, New South Wales Has Experienced A Spike In COVID-19 Infection Cases

Closure of public facilities such as parks in New South Wales. (Wikimedia Commons/Classy Melissa)

JAKARTA - New South Wales has recorded a spike in cases of COVID-19 infection, following three consecutive days of declines, when three-quarters of the state's population aged 16 and over had received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Australia has locked down Sydney and Melbourne, its largest cities, after an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant since June ended months with little or no community transmission.

Kangaroo Country is now choosing to prepare to live with the virus, rather than eliminating it, along with the vaccination target of 70 percent of the total adult population of 20.6 million people which is expected to be reached in early November.

8, Wednesday The state of New South Wales reported 1,480 locally acquired cases, up from 1,220 the day before, while cases in neighboring Victoria fell to 221 from 246.

In addition, nine new deaths were reported, although the increase in COVID-19 vaccination puts the death rate from the current outbreak at around 0.41 percent, below the previous period.

As it prepares to come out of lockdown in its two largest cities, the government is considering using vaccination certificates for international travel from October, the Sydney Morning Herald said in a report without citing sources.

Australians are barred from leaving the country unless they have an exception while returning travelers must undergo a two-week hotel quarantine at their own expense.

The latest pandemic modeling by the Burnet Institute shows that without lockdowns or rapid vaccinations there would be about 590,000 more cases and 5,800 deaths in Sydney's 12 hard-hit western suburbs over the six months to December.

Citing Worldometers, Australia has so far recorded 66,317 cases of COVID-19 infection, with the death toll now reaching 1,063 and 35,378 patients recovering since last year's pandemic.