Australia Health Minister Greg Hunt: 'Tens of thousands of lives were saved'. Photo / Getty Images
Australia Health Minister Greg Hunt: 'Tens of thousands of lives were saved'. Photo / Getty Images
Analysis by Australia's federal government shows the country is second only to New Zealand for the lowest number of Covid-19 deaths per capita in the OECD.
Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt told the Sydney Morning Herald that the figure showed that, even as New South Wales and Victoria record thousands of new cases a week, Australians have been protected from the worst of the pandemic by border controls and domestic restrictions.
"The fact that we have the second-lowest per capita levels of lives lost means that tens of thousands of lives were saved not just last year, but this year as well," Hunt said.
"The focus on aged care, both workers and residents, has meant that there are dramatically different human outcomes from the Sydney outbreak this year as opposed to the Victorian outbreak last year."
The Sydney Morning Herald reports 95.8 per cent of the people working in residential aged care across the country have had at least one dose of the vaccine, and 76.9 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Of the total eligible population aged 16 and over in Australia, 44.7 per cent are fully vaccinated and 69.8 per cent have had their first dose.
Once 70 per cent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated, Australia can move into the next phase of its national roadmap out of Covid that will see fewer restrictions and increased caps on international arrivals.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the pace of the country's vaccine rollout would see the double-dose target reached soon.
"Today we will hit 70 per cent of the country aged over 16 who have had their first dose. That 70 per cent double dose and 80 per cent double-dose mark is within plain sight," he said today.
Health experts have suggested those vaccination targets are too low.
Australia Health Minister Greg Hunt: 'Tens of thousands of lives were saved'. Photo / Getty Images
NSW
New South Wales has today recorded 1284 new local cases of Covid-19.
Twelve Covid-related deaths were also reported by NSW Health, including two people in their 20s and three in their 50s. The death toll in the outbreak is now 222.
There are currently 1245 people with Covid-19 admitted to hospital in NSW, with 228 people in intensive care, 112 of whom require ventilation.
Of the eligible population across NSW, 49.6 per cent are fully vaccinated and 80.7 per cent have had their first dose.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced a home quarantine trial. Photo / Getty Images
People arriving in NSW from overseas will soon be able to quarantine at home instead of in a hotel, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian revealed on Friday.
More than 100 fully vaccinated people will take part in a test of the new system, which will only require people to be in isolation for seven days.
If successful, the system will become the new norm and replace the requirement of two weeks in hotel quarantine.
"We want to be able to open up at Sydney and NSW as quickly as possible, so this is a really crucial step," NSW Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres said.
Qantas staff will take part in the trial, which will begin within weeks.
The government hopes to roll out the home quarantine system to the broader public once the state manages to fully vaccinate 80 per cent of the population.
"One of the things that we obviously expect to occur at 80 per cent double dose is to consider our international borders," Berejiklian told reporters.
"That is Aussies coming back home through Sydney Airport, but also our citizens having the opportunity to go overseas where previously they weren't able to."
Victoria
Victoria has recorded 510 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases and one death in the 24 hours to midnight last night.
Of the new cases, 386 have unknown sources and 124 have been linked to know cases or outbreaks.
Contact tracers have been battling against a tide of mystery infections as the outbreak escalated over the past week.
More than 1610 mystery cases have been recorded since Monday – 68 per cent of the total 2365 infections announced.
A health worker walks by an exposure site in Melbourne. Photo / Getty Images
Of the eligible population in Victoria, 42.4 per cent are fully vaccinated and 69.3 per cent have had their first dose. With the uptake in vaccination rates, Premier Daniel Andrews has signalled an easing of restrictions.
From 11.59pm tonight (local time), fully vaccinated residents will be able to gather outdoors in groups of five adults from two households for recreation. Unvaccinated people will be able to gather in groups of two.
The state's travel limit will also be extended to 10km, and skate parks and outdoor gyms will be reopened along with an increase in permitted exercise time to four hours. Golf and tennis will also still be banned and the night curfew will remain in place.
The change comes ahead of the state's road map announcement on Sunday that will detail milestones for rule easing throughout October and November.
Queensland has recorded one new local case of Covid-19, linked to the existing cluster that originated at a school in Brisbane's south.
More than 1000 families remain in home quarantine with new cases added throughout the week connected to the Sir Thomas More College in Sunnybank.
The Delta scare originated when a 13-year-old student tested positive after a NSW essential worker stayed with her father, but chief health officer Jeannette Young applauded the quick response to the families connected to the school for squashing the spread of community infections.
"The latest case is a household contact that has been in home quarantine for their entire infectious period," she told reporters on Friday morning.
Queensland's chief health officer Jeannette Young. Photo / Getty Images
The top doctor urged the community to support the more than 1000 families to remain in quarantine for the 14 days since potentially being exposed to the virus and called on Queenslanders to get vaccinated.
"Roll up to one of those 30 venue across our entire state and get vaccinated," Dr Young said.
"If you don't have a booking, this weekend you can still come forward — just walk up. You might have to wait for a little while, you might not.
This is our chance — we're starting to get that big ramp-up in vaccine supply that we've been promised for many months now. Now is the time we can really start escalating."
