On Thursday, Australia has seen one of the highest daily death tolls from the novel coronavirus. Authorities are seen struggling to deal with the highly contagious Omicron variants while the number of hospital admissions has increased to a great number.
The BA.4/5 variants have induced a surge in the number of new threatening infections and are good at evading immune protection from vaccination or prior infection Rise in Covid cases Since the first Omicron wave earlier this year, Australia is reporting the highest daily numbers. There has been a significant increase in the mortality rate with 89 deaths from the coronavirus on Thursday and 90 on Wednesday. On Thursday, it recorded over 55,600 new cases which is the highest since May 18.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, “State leaders and federal health officials have not recommended making masks mandatory in indoor venues, despite calls by some doctors to do so.”
“It’s no good having a mandate unless it’s enforced,” Albanese told Radio. He said health officials also had to take into account the effects of tough restrictions on mental health.
Imposing restrictions
During the first wave of the pandemic, Australia avoided the high death tolls in comparison to the death rates seen in other countries. This was possible largely to high levels due to public compliance with strict social distancing restrictions, good awareness and public support to obey the government imposed restrictions.
But the return to such strict restrictions again as cases have begun to rise seems to be somewhat difficult because of less interest being showed by the common masses to abide by such restrictions all again now. Pressure has been resisted by Albanese from some health experts to impose mask mandates.
The latest Omicron wave is pushing the number of people with COVID-19 in Australian hospitals close to the peak hit in January.About 5,350 patients are in hospitals, and several states are battling record admissions, Reuters reported.
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