COVID outbreak in Australia shows signs of peaking
SYDNEY (Reuters) — Australia recorded its biggest one-day rise in coronavirus disease 2019 deaths yesterday, although a slowdown in new cases gave hope that a second wave of new infections in the state of Victoria may have peaked.
Nineteen persons had died from the virus, all in Victoria, in the past 24 hours, a national daily record. Only 337 people had been diagnosed with COVID-19 across the country, however – the lowest one-day rise since July 29, according to officials.
“This is an agonizing day for the members for the 19 families who have lost a loved one to COVID-19 today,” Australia’s deputy chief medical officer Michael Kidd told reporters.
“We are now seeing the first promising signs of a significant decline in the number of cases,” Kidd added.
The slowdown in cases comes more than a month after the nearly five million residents of Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, were told to stay home, and a week after most businesses in the country’s secondlargest city were ordered to close in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus.
With about 21,000 COVID-19 cases and 314 deaths, Australia still has recorded fewer infections and fatalities than many other developed nations.
Outside the two largest states of Victoria and New South Wales, the virus has been effectively eliminated.
Desperate to contain the outbreak, Australia’s states and territories have closed their borders and slowed a timetable to remove remaining social-distancing restrictions. Victoria will continue in a hard lockdown for at least another five weeks.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said internal travel restrictions were likely to remain until at least Christmas.
Social distancing restrictions have devastated Australia’s economy. Unemployment is expected to peak at 14 percent this year as the country enters its first recession in nearly three decades.
The government last week pledged to expand its wage subsidy scheme by A$16.8 billion amid the Victorian outbreak, prompting some criticism that the economic toll was too high.