SYDNEY: Sydney’s COVID-19 cases rose to a new daily record on Wednesday, putting parts of the health system under “severe pressure,” officials said, as they urged an increase in vaccinations to help curb the rate of hospitalizations.
Despite two months of lockdowns, New South Wales (NSW) state reported 919 new cases amid a growing Delta variant outbreak, taking Australia’s daily case numbers to a new pandemic high just below 1,000. A total of 113 people in the state are in intensive care, with 98 of those unvaccinated.
“This highlights ... the fact that vaccination is the key. We need to increase those vaccine coverage levels,” state Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant told a briefing.
Australia, grappling to control a third wave of the coronavirus, has locked down more than half of its 25 million population, including its largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, and is accelerating an initially sluggish vaccine rollout.
Around 31 percent of people above 16 have been fully vaccinated, while 54 percent have had at least one dose.
“We have made the point that the most important figure moving forward is the rate of vaccination and that remains the case,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney, the state capital.
“There is no doubt that parts of the hospital network are under severe pressure when most of the cases, 80 percent of cases are coming out of the same region,” she added, pointing to the high case numbers in Sydney’s southwestern suburbs.
The spike in cases comes as Australia’s federal government pressed states to stick to a four-stage national reopening plan agreed last month, as some have suggested delays given the persistently high new daily case numbers in Sydney.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg warned state leaders on Wednesday that current emergency economic supports may be withdrawn when the country hits a 70-80 percent COVID-19 vaccination rate, even if states and territories decide to retain border controls.
“There should be no expectation on behalf of premiers and chief ministers that our emergency economic support will continue at the scale that it is currently,” Frydenberg told broadcaster Seven News.
In Victoria, new cases fell for a second straight day, with 45 new cases detected, down from 50 a day earlier, as officials seek to boost the vaccine rollout by allowing anyone over 16 to book an appointment from Wednesday.
Despite the recent Delta outbreaks, Australia’s coronavirus numbers are still relatively low, with just over 46,600 cases and 986 deaths. Deaths from the latest outbreak have risen to 76, although the death rate has slowed from last year.
Sydney hospitals under strain as coronavirus cases hit record
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Sydney hospitals under strain as coronavirus cases hit record
- New South Wales state reported 919 new cases amid a growing Delta variant outbreak
- Australia has locked down more than half of its 25 million population
Myanmar’s military government releases more than 6,100 prisoners on independence anniversary
- It was not immediately clear whether those released include the thousands of political detainees imprisoned for opposing military rule
- The amnesty comes as the military government proceeds with a monthlong, three-stage election process that critics say is designed to add a facade of legitimacy to the status quo
BANGKOK: Myanmar’s military government granted amnesty to more than 6,100 prisoners and reduced other inmates’ sentences Sunday to mark the 78th anniversary of the country’s independence from Britain.
It was not immediately clear whether those released include the thousands of political detainees imprisoned for opposing military rule.
The amnesty comes as the military government proceeds with a monthlong, three-stage election process that critics say is designed to add a facade of legitimacy to the status quo.
State-run MRTV television reported that Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the military government, pardoned 6,134 prisoners.
A separate statement said 52 foreigners will also be released and deported from Myanmar. No comprehensive list of those freed is available.
Other prisoners received reduced sentences, except for those convicted of serious charges such as murder and rape or those jailed on charges under various other security acts.
The release terms warn that if the freed detainees violate the law again, they will have to serve the remainder of their original sentences in addition to any new sentence.
The prisoner releases, common on holidays and other significant occasions in Myanmar, began Sunday and are expected to take several days to complete.
At Yangon’s Insein Prison, which is notorious for housing political detainees, relatives of prisoners gathered at the gates early in the morning.
However, there was no sign that the prisoner release would include former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted in the military takeover in 2021 and has been held virtually incommunicado since then.
The takeover was met with massive nonviolent resistance, which has since become a widespread armed struggle.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an independent organization that keeps detailed tallies of arrests and casualties linked to the nation’s political conflicts, more than 22,000 political detainees, including Suu Kyi, were in detention as of last Tuesday.
Many political detainees had been held on a charge of incitement, a catch-all offense widely used to arrest critics of the government or military and punishable by up to three years in prison.
The 80-year-old Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence after being convicted in what supporters have called politically tinged prosecutions.
Myanmar became a British colony in the late 19th century and regained its independence on Jan. 4, 1948.
The anniversary was marked in the capital, Naypyitaw, with a flag-raising ceremony at City Hall on Sunday.
