Sydney (Australia), July 20. The Australian government on Wednesday urged the population to opt for teleworking, wear masks indoors and receive booster doses of the covid-19 vaccine, among other measures, given the increase in infections by a new wave linked to the omicron variant.
The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, stressed that the decision on remote work involves “striking the right balance” between the needs of business and efforts to control the pandemic.
“One of the consequences of the pandemic is that some work practices will change permanently,” the president said at a press conference from a medical institute in Melbourne.
Australia is experiencing a strong resurgence of the pandemic linked to the BA.4 and BA.5 subviantes of omicron, highly contagious according to experts, and registered some 50,000 new infections on Tuesday, accumulating more than 350,000 active cases.
The number of hospitalizations for covid-19, which represents almost 9 percent of all beds nationwide, is close to the peak reached in January this year after the progressive opening of international borders, which were closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic, as well as the return to normal practice.
“I think the next month is going to be very difficult for our hospitals,” the Australian government’s chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, told the ABC public broadcaster today, stressing that teleworking “is a key component” to avoid massive infections. .
Australia has accumulated almost 8.9 million patients since the start of the pandemic, including some 10,800 deaths, according to official figures, which indicate that more than 95% of the population over the age of 16 has the complete schedule of the vaccine against covid -19, 54.3% have the third dose and half a million people have been inoculated with the fourth booster.
The oceanic country implemented a series of ironclad measures during much of the health crisis, including strict confinements, international and national travel bans and the mandatory use of masks. EFE
wat/nc/gcf
(photo)
–
