MELBOURNE: Sydney was set to reopen after months in lockdown, officials said on Sunday, with businesses readying themselves to welcome fully vaccinated residents from Monday.
New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, reported 477 new coronavirus cases and six deaths on Sunday, in an outbreak that has kept 5 million people in state capital Sydney in a lockdown for 100 days.
But as the state has met the threshold of 70 percent of its people fully vaccinated, New South Wales was ready to ease some restrictions and reopen many businesses, said state Premier Dominic Perrottet.
“It’s a big day for our state, and to everyone across the New South Wales: you’ve earned it,” Perrottet said. “It’s been a hundred days of blood, sweat, no beers, but we’ve got it back in action tomorrow.”
When asked what would be the first thing he does on Monday, Perrottet said, “I am going to get a haircut.”
Local media reported that hair and beauty salons have been fully booked for weeks to come.
“We have stretched their days and have opened up extra times in their diaries so that we can book our clients in as soon as we possibly can,” Joseph Hkeik, who runs several All Saints skin clinics in Sydney told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Many social distancing restrictions, however, and limits on public gathering will remain for weeks, Perrottet said.
Neighboring Victoria, its capital Melbourne in lockdown since early August, reported 1,890 new cases and five deaths on Sunday. The state is expected to reopen late in October, once 70 percent of its residents are fully inoculated.
The Melbourne Cup, Australia’s most famous horse race, will go ahead on Nov. 2 with crowds of up to 10,000 people, the state government said.
“We’re going to normalize this virus,” said Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews. “We’re going to open up and we’re going to be back doing what we do best.”
Nearly 62 percent of all Australians 16 and older have received two doses of vaccine. Once 80 percent of eligible Australians are fully vaccinated, the country will start gradually reopening its international borders, which have been closed since March 2020.
Australia’s COVID-19 cases remain, however, far lower than many comparable countries, with just over 127,500 infections and 1,432 deaths in a country of just under 26 million.
Neighboring New Zealand, which was largely virus-free until a Delta outbreak in mid-August, reported 60 new local cases, up from 34 on Saturday.
Sydney set to ease key COVID-19 lockdown curbs
https://arab.news/nd7jc
Sydney set to ease key COVID-19 lockdown curbs
- Outbreak has kept 5 million people in Sydney in a lockdown for 100 days
- Nearly 62 percent of all Australians 16 and older have received two doses of vaccine
Kremlin says won’t share ‘specifics’ of Putin, Trump phone call on Iran war
DUBAI: The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it will not disclose the specific proposals by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the current Middle East war which came during an earlier phone call with US President Donald Trump.
During a presser, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia will not disclose the “specifics” of the Russian president’s proposals to Trump.
Putin held a phone call with Trump on Monday where they discussed the Ukraine and Iran wars.
Trump hailed the conversation as “positive.”
“He wants to be helpful” on the Middle East, Trump said of Putin.
Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov told reporters later that day that Putin had a roughly one-hour telephone conversation with Trump at the request of the US side. The two leaders had not spoken over the phone since late December of last year.
Separately, Russia said it is constantly in touch with the Iranian leadership and willing to contribute to efforts to stabilize the region.
“Here I can only say that we are in constant contact with the Iranian side and with the Iranian leadership.”
“As President (Vladimir) Putin has said, Russia is always ready to do what it can to restore peace and stability in the region.”
