Spare a thought for the residents of Argentina’s capital city, Buenos Aires, who have lived through “home isolation” restrictions for 243 days – from 19 March 2020 – 8 November 2020 and then again from 21 –. While this must feel like it will be some kind of world record, a quick internet search reveals that it will be close, but not quite. Pictures: Getty Imagesīy then Melbourne will have racked up a total of 234 days of lockdown. Melbourne has an equable spread of green spaces around the city. The city is now well past a combined 200 days of life with stay-at-home orders since the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year.įingers crossed Melburnians will experience some easing of restrictions come 23 September when initial vaccination targets are due to be met. Since the start of the pandemic, Australia has recorded more than 51,000 cases of COVID-19 and nearly 1,000 deaths in a population of 25 million.The end of lockdown conditions in most of regional Victoria is bitter sweet news for Melburnians still enduring their sixth lockdown. “To delay and deny that fact is not only wrong but incredibly unrealistic.” “Learning to live with the virus is our only hope,” the daily The Age cited Australia Treasurer Josh Frydenberg as saying on Sunday. But at current rates, 80 percent could be vaccinated by mid-November. In non-hotspot areas, five fully vaccinated adults will be able to gather outdoors for up to an hour from mid-September while authorities have also signalled small weddings will soon be allowed.Īustralian leaders have agreed on a national plan for reopening the country once vaccination targets of 70 and 80 percent are reached in each state and territory.Īt present, only 33.7 percent of people older than 16 have been fully vaccinated. Nearly 19,000 cases have been detected in the state of about eight million people since the Delta variant outbreak began in mid-June.īut with vaccination rates now surging in New South Wales and authorities predicting 70 percent of adults there will be fully vaccinated by October, residents weary of prolonged restrictions have been promised some modest freedoms. Meanwhile, neighbouring New South Wales state, which includes Australia’s most populous city of Sydney, posted 1,218 new cases on Sunday – pushing the country’s overall daily caseload to a new all-time high. Hundreds of protesters march in an anti-lockdown protest in Melbourne, on August 21 Īndrews did not say how long stay-at-home orders would remain in place, saying officials would “look at all the different options”. Melbourne’s lockdown is currently in its fourth week and includes a curfew, the closure of playgrounds and strict limits on exercise. “We still have too many cases in the community for too long for us to be able to open up and give back… those freedoms that we cherish and those freedoms that we desperately want back,” Andrews said. But Victoria Premier Dan Andrews said on Sunday that this would no longer be possible. Melbourne’s lockdown, its sixth since the start of the pandemic, was due to end on Thursday. There are also 778 active cases in Victoria, according to health data. The announcement on Sunday came as the number of COVID-19 infections in Victoria state, of which Melbourne is the capital, rose by 92 overnight – the highest number in nearly a year. Australian authorities say they will extend a lockdown of the country’s second-biggest city, Melbourne, as they struggle to quell a coronavirus outbreak driven by the highly infectious Delta variant.
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