SYDNEY: Australia used a combination of its island geography and local blockades to eliminate the coronavirus before the pandemic. But the Delta variant is so contagious that some Australian leaders believe it will be impossible to return to zero cases.
This week, Australia reported the highest number of cases since the pandemic began. On Wednesday, 747 local virus cases were reported across the country, surpassing the previous daily high of 716 in July last year, according to the latest issues of Our World in Data. The country’s two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, are closed, as is the country’s capital, Canberra.
“Assuming there will be zero cases in Australia forever is, I think, an assumption that no one can really make at this stage,” said Gladys Berejiklian, the Prime Minister of the state of New South Wales, which includes Sydney. “We can’t expect to be zero cases in Delta Australia.”
Although small by world standards, the Delta outbreak in Australia is a case study of how quickly it can spread in a slightly vaccinated population with low immunity. Vaccine deployment has increased recently, but only 22% of the population has been fully vaccinated, compared to more than half in the United States and the United Kingdom, according to Our World in Data.
Not all Australian leaders are willing to give up on elimination, at least as long as vaccination rates remain relatively low. Leaders in the Australian states had agreed on a Covid-19 exit strategy that called for aggressive suppression of the virus until at least 70% of the adult population had been vaccinated.