Melbourne is currently reporting around 20 new COVID-19 cases per day (23 today, 15 yesterday). In most parts of the world these numbers would most likely be considered insignificant – background even. However, correctly, our Government …
is super-conservative and from the beginning the overarching aim has been keeping numbers as low as possible … even elimination. Considering the high transmissibility of the delta variant the authorities do not want to take any chances. Therefore, and extension of seven days to our lockdown has been ordered.
It is estimated that ~50% of Australians are currently in lockdown with the most severly affected city being Syndney; despite a protracted series of restrictions (4 weeks) the city is still reporting around 100 cases per day and lockdowns will be extended.
To highlight how “dangerous” the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 really is we can consider Vietnam. Vietnam has had an exemplary record of containing the virus throughout the pandemic. However, over the past couple of months the delta variant has taken hold and cases have been steadily rising from a handful of cases in April to around 5000 cases per day currently. Fifth waves of the virus, driven by the delta variant, are now feared in the United States and Europe; as surge is also apparent in Iran. Israel, where approximately 60% of the population is fully vaccinated appears to be doing OK.
So it looks like the delta variant is causing problems around the world; the encouraging sign is that vaccination appears to protective; at least against severe COVID-19 and hospitalization. In Australia ~11.5% of the population is currently fully vaccinated; both vaccine eligibility and hesitancy appear to be factors. If we want an end to lockdowns vaccination is a must – it really is the only way!
By the way, it just clicked to me why people were referring to lockdowns as 1.0, 2.0 etc… I thought the decimal (2 significant figures), was irrelevant. Following our initial five-day lockdown, dubbed Lockdown 5.0, the authorities have extended the lockdown for an additional seven days … hence Lockdown 5.1; any additional extensions would be 5.2, 5.3 etc … makes sense!
Until next time …