Covid in Australia: Australia reported over 32,400 record Covid cases on Friday.
Sydney:
Sydney, the Australian city worst hit by the Omicron wave, will go ahead with New Year’s Eve celebrations on Friday, with officials encouraging revelers to come out and enjoy the festivities, despite a spike in COVID-19 cases. is the record number.
Thousands are expected to flock to major port locations to watch Sydney’s famous fireworks, a traditional 12-minute pyrotechnic display to ring in the new year, with queues forming at several vantage points since early morning.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison wished people to “enjoy the evening”, while NSW Premier Dominic Perrott urged everyone to “go and enjoy the new year” as daily infections in the state nearly doubled to a record 21,151 on Friday done.
Several countries have scaled down New Year’s celebrations in an effort to prevent mass infection from the Omicron coronavirus variant, but celebrations in Sydney will go ahead as normal as plans for last year have been put on hold due to COVID-19. was toned.
Sydney, the capital of the state of New South Wales (NSW), is one of the first major cities in the world to welcome each new year, with a public countdown and fireworks display at its iconic Opera House.
All Australian states except Western Australia have started living with the virus after high levels of vaccination and easing of restrictions pushed cases to record levels.
Despite the record jump, Perrot reiterated on Friday that NSW is “in a very strong position” due to high vaccination and hospitals are facing an Omicron wave.
“With case numbers increasing significantly compared to where we were with the Delta version, our position remains incredibly strong,” Perrott told reporters.
Of the more than 135,000 active cases in Australia, only 127 people are in intensive care, according to official figures.
Australia reported more than 32,400 cases on Friday, a new pandemic high, far higher than the previous record of 21,329 a day earlier, as total infections neared 400,000. A total of 2,239 deaths have been recorded since the pandemic began.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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