MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australians celebrated Easter Sunday relatively freely, as the country did not report new cases of locally acquired coronaviruses.
Queensland, the epicenter of a recent and small community outbreak of COVID-19, has only had one infection in the last three days. The state has the strictest restrictions on public meetings.
Elsewhere, Australians went to the beaches, taking advantage of the warm weather in many parts of the country, or gathered with families, in stark contrast to last year’s Easter, when a nationwide closure made people confined to their home.
Although many countries have imposed new closures or reduced services for major Christian holidays, trying to keep the third wave of coronavirus from spreading, churches in Australia were open and many attended services over the weekend of four. days.
According to the 2016 census, Christianity is the dominant religion in Australia, with 12 million people and 86% of Australian religious.
Australia has been one of the most successful countries in the world in curbing the pandemic, with instant blockages, border closures and rapid monitoring limiting coronavirus infections to just over 29,300 infections, with 909 deaths from COVID-19.
However, the country has had much less, with its inoculation, which has lost a March target by about 3.3 million doses, as states and the federal government were vying for the blame.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Sunday that the country is on track to give a first dose of the vaccine to all Australians who want it by October.
“As supply has increased with the manufacture of sovereign vaccines, so has the release,” he said.
CSL Ltd. began production of 50 million doses of the Oxford University / AstraZeneca vaccine in March in Melbourne, with the expectation that most Australians would receive this shot.
Report by Lidia Kelly; Edited by William Mallard