Coronavirus: Melbourne to exit lockdown despite record cases; Bali reopens to foreign tourists
- Businesses in Melbourne can reopen with strict social distancing rules even though Victoria state logged 2,297 new cases
- Elsewhere, child suicides in Japan are the highest they have been in more than four decades amid school closures
In the worst day of an outbreak of the Delta variant coronavirus that began in early August, Victoria logged 2,297 new cases on Thursday, up from 1,571 the day before and the highest for any Australian state or territory since the pandemic began. Eleven people died, bringing the total toll in the latest outbreak to 125.
But the surge comes as Victoria also nears the 70 per cent threshold for double-dose vaccination among eligible adults – the level at which authorities have promised to end strict stay-home restrictions. That target was originally expected to be met on October 26, and the vaccination level was 62 per cent as of Thursday.
“We will deliver the [reopening] road map … You get vaccinated and we will open up and I do what I say,” Victoria Premier Andrews said, speaking during a media briefing in Melbourne.
Most new cases were detected in Melbourne, but the city’s night curfew will also be lifted, while businesses can reopen with strict social distancing rules, according to the road map. More curbs will be relaxed when vaccination levels reach 80 per cent and 90 per cent.
Sydney, where the first case was detected in mid-June, continued a downward trend in new infections. Daily cases in New South Wales eased further to 406 on Thursday, the majority in Sydney, well down from the state’s pandemic high of 1,599 hit in early September.