Sydney, Sept 30 (BUS): The Australian state of Victoria topped 1,000 coronavirus cases per day for the first time in the pandemic, posting a massive jump from the 950 cases announced the day before.
State health authorities said Thursday that 1,438 cases – all locally transferred – had been recorded the previous day. Five deaths were recorded.
The numbers bring the current number of active cases to just over 11,000.
The state’s head of Covid-19 response, Jeroen Weimar, said there are now cases in every area of Melbourne and about a third of the cases were due to gatherings over the three-day weekend, according to German news agency dpa. .
People have “lowered their guard,” he said, adding that the troop surge may be a “wicked day” but it could be an ongoing trend.
State Premier Dan Andrews urged the public to “make the best decisions” at a news conference after announcing the jump in numbers. He added that it is “only a matter of weeks” before the lockdown ends.
Lockdown measures affected different parts of the state and in particular its capital, Melbourne, for weeks. It is currently in its sixth lockdown since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Case numbers in the state recently surpassed neighboring New South Wales, which saw the start of a decline in case numbers after an apparent stabilization.
New South Wales on Thursday reported 941 new cases from the past 24 hour period.
Australia, with a population of 25 million, has long sought to eradicate the virus with a zero-Covid strategy, but after failing to contain several outbreaks of delta variants, it has largely turned to vaccination targets as a way out of lockdown.
Both Victoria and New South Wales are looking to appointments in October to get past the vaccination phases and start reopening properly.
More than half of the country’s eligible population has now been fully vaccinated.
Australia has recorded 102,000 cases and nearly 1,200 deaths since the pandemic began.
HF