SYDNEY, Dec 20 (BUS) – Australian authorities urged on Monday to “stay out of fear” of the coronavirus, rejecting calls to make masks mandatory indoors and limit numbers of patrons in Sydney venues, even as new COVID-19 infections remain close to records. .
Despite the threat from the more transmissible type of Omicron, life returned to normal in Sydney last week, with nearly all strict restrictions lifted before Christmas, with vaccination rates among the highest in the world, Reuters reported.
“There will always be new types of this virus,” said Dominic Perrottet, premier of the most populous state of New South Wales.
“The epidemic is not going away and we need to learn to live with it,” he told reporters in the state capital, Sydney. “We also need to move away from fear and move into hope and confidence.”
While Omicron’s rapid spread across Europe has led to a lockdown in the Netherlands and could lead to stricter measures elsewhere, Australia is pushing for restrictions to be eased despite an expected increase in infections, hoping vaccines will help keep people out. the hospital.
More than 90 percent of those over 16 years of age in Australia have been immunized.
Beirut had hoped that higher vaccination levels would reduce the numbers of patients admitted to hospitals, a number he urged everyone to focus on.
And although experts called for the strict restrictions to be reinstated, Perrotette said he was “receiving a balanced and proportionate response.”
No new deaths were recorded on Monday, although infections increased, with hospitalization rates much lower than at the height of the delta wave.
New South Wales has recorded 2,501 cases, down from the epidemic’s high of 2,566 on Sunday. The neighboring state of Victoria recorded 1,302 new infections, up from 1,240.
Australia’s tally of 255,000 infections and 2,146 deaths since the pandemic began is much lower than it is in many countries.
MI