Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, recorded its highest number of daily COVID-19 deaths on Saturday as the omicron variant sweeps the country and lawmakers face pressure to close widening supply chain gaps.
The home to Sydney and a third of Australia’s 25 million people reported 16 deaths from the coronavirus in the previous day. New South Wales reported 30,062 new infections, near-record levels.
The country reported just under 100,000 cases overall, down from a record 116,025 the previous day, but still surpassing most previous peaks. Total deaths for the day were 36.
With the surge bringing a rush for government-funded pop-up testing clinics, the authorities have shifted their messaging and urged people to instead take rapid antigen tests at home, then report positive results to their doctor, who enters it into a database. Authorities are calling for calm amid reports of bare supermarket shelves as people stay home to avoid infection and delivery personnel self-isolate due to virus exposure.
Australia meanwhile plans to start vaccinating children aged 5 to 11 on Monday. Most states said they would begin the new school year as scheduled at the end of January but Queensland, the third most populous state, said it would postpone the return to school by two weeks to give children time to be vaccinated.
The home to Sydney and a third of Australia’s 25 million people reported 16 deaths from the coronavirus in the previous day. New South Wales reported 30,062 new infections, near-record levels.
The country reported just under 100,000 cases overall, down from a record 116,025 the previous day, but still surpassing most previous peaks. Total deaths for the day were 36.
With the surge bringing a rush for government-funded pop-up testing clinics, the authorities have shifted their messaging and urged people to instead take rapid antigen tests at home, then report positive results to their doctor, who enters it into a database. Authorities are calling for calm amid reports of bare supermarket shelves as people stay home to avoid infection and delivery personnel self-isolate due to virus exposure.
Australia meanwhile plans to start vaccinating children aged 5 to 11 on Monday. Most states said they would begin the new school year as scheduled at the end of January but Queensland, the third most populous state, said it would postpone the return to school by two weeks to give children time to be vaccinated.
