Sydney Jan 31 (BUS) : Australia on Monday reported its lowest daily death rate for COVID-19 in two weeks, while cases continued to decline as authorities prepared for staff shortages in schools due to a possible outbreak as thousands of students return after the summer break. .
Most states will go through an intermittent exercise to reopen schools this week as Australia battles the worst outbreak of the pandemic, as cases of the fast-moving Omicron variant of the coronavirus climb to record levels, Reuters reports.
“There will be challenges and there will be hurdles during the first few weeks,” Victoria Deputy Premier James Merlino said during a media briefing on Monday. Merlino said a group of about 350 retired teachers has been set up to support schools when they must furlough staff.
Masks are mandatory indoors for older children, and millions of home antigen tests, still not readily available in many stores, are being rolled out to families free of charge, as children are required to take COVID-19 tests twice a week.
About 40% of children aged 5-11 years were given the first vaccine dose, while about two-thirds of eligible Australians received the booster dose.
Although Omicron appears to be less virulent than previous variants, the overwhelming number of cases has overwhelmed hospitals and testing facilities. Supply chains have also been disrupted leading to supermarket shelves, angering Australians and reducing the popularity of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, just months after the federal election. Read more
Nearly 34,000 new infections were reported on Monday, the lowest toll in a month, while 44 deaths were recorded.
Hospitalizations have held steady at around 5,000 in the past few days, peaking at just under 5,400 last Tuesday. The number was 4,869 on Monday, having fallen for the past five days.
Of the 2.5 million infections detected since the pandemic began, about 2.3 million have been reported since the country’s first Omicron case was discovered in late November. Deaths totaled 3,754, much lower than many developed countries.
MI