JAKARTA - The authorities of Sydney, Australia are planning to ease the lockdown in the second half of October, after months of lockdown by opening a number of public facilities despite the increasing number of infections.
Cafes, restaurants, pubs and wellness centers across the city of five million people could reopen at reduced capacity within days, after New South Wales (NSW) achieved its 70 percent complete vaccination target expected to be achieved in October.
Meanwhile, stay-at-home orders for residents who have received full COVID-19 vaccinations will be lifted from Monday once the target is reached, officials said.
However, the plan comes as daily infection figures hold around record levels of infections recorded by New South Wales due to the spread of the Delta variant, where this Thursday 1,405 new infections were reported, down from 1,480 the day before, with five new deaths.
"Living with COVID means you have to be careful and reopen gradually, once you have reached a high vaccination rate in your adult population," New South Wales State Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian told a news conference in Sydney. .
Berejiklian expects cases to rise as restrictions are relaxed, warning local lockdowns will be imposed if there is a concentration of disease in any suburb. Lockdown rules in some areas outside greater Sydney have been lifted from Saturday, after a low number of cases there.
Under the plan, Sydney's pubs and cafes could reopen before school, which will start classes for younger age groups from 25 October.
"The (school re-opening) date is fixed because we need to provide certainty and planning for the school community. But for adults, we have the capacity to be more flexible," he explained.
Berejiklian initially pursued a zero COVID strategy to quell the outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant that began in mid-June. However, after several months of lockdown failed to quell the outbreak, strategy shifted to increasing COVID-19 vaccinations.
To date, about 43 per cent of the population over 16 in Australia's most populous state, have been fully vaccinated, slightly higher than the national average of 40 per cent.
Sydney's staggering reopening plans bring certainty to businesses, with lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's biggest cities, threatening to push the economy into its second recession in as many years.
Separately, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday New South Wales' reopening efforts were in line with a four-stage national plan announced in July, promising more freedoms once the country reaches 70 percent to 80 percent.
"The next stage will be difficult, we will see the number of cases increase and that will be a challenge. But if you want to live with the virus you have to go through that tunnel," PM Morrison said in Canberra.
PM Morrison urged state leaders to "exercise restraint" as they start living with the virus, although some virus-free states have signaled they could delay their reopening even after achieving higher vaccination coverage.
To note, the number of COVID-19 cases in Australia is much lower than in many other countries, with over 68,000 cases and 1,066 deaths. Increased vaccination rates have kept the death rate at 0.41 percent in the Delta outbreak, data show, below previous outbreaks.
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