In this file photo taken on Dec 22, 2021, a health worker conducts a PCR test at the St Vincent's Bondi Beach COVID-19 drive through testing clinic in Sydney.
(MUHAMMAD FAROOQ / AFP)
HANOI / SINGAPORE / SYDNEY – Researchers from one of Australia's most prominent medical institutes have called on the government to re-adopt COVID-19 strategies as the spread of Omicron continues to cause major individual and systemic disruption.
According to the most recent data from the Australian Government Department of Health, the nation has reported nearly 8 million cases and over 9,500 deaths as of June 22.
There were 32,982 new COVID cases recorded on Wednesday nationally, and 3,022 people are in hospital with 103 in intensive care in Australia
There were 32,982 new COVID cases recorded on Wednesday nationally, and 3,022 people are in hospital with 103 in intensive care.
In an editorial published on Thursday, Director and CEO of the Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health (Burnet Institute) Brendan Crabb and epidemiologist Mike Toole argued for a return to stricter measures to reduce virus transmissions.
At the end of last year, the first cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant were detected in Australia, however policy makers, betting on the fact that the virus would be less severe and allow those infected to boost their immunity, went ahead with the nation's re-opening.
Since then, COVID-19 health measures have been progressively stripped away, and last week mask mandates in some Australian airports were scrapped.
Crabb and Toole said the return to normal life was sending the wrong message to the public given the reality of the current state of the pandemic in Australia.
Over 7 million COVID-19 cases have been registered in Australia this year, much higher than in the two previous years, they wrote.
"Tens of thousands have been sick enough to go to hospital and there have been 8,000 COVID deaths."
On top of this the researchers said that due to the constant evolution of the virus, people's past immunity was not holding up, leading to repeat, no less mild, infections.
Singapore
Singapore reported 6,606 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total tally to 1,390,558.
Of the new cases, 535 cases were detected through polymerase chain reaction tests and 6,071 through antigen rapid tests, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.
Among the PCR cases, 497 were local transmissions and 38 were imported cases. Among the ART cases with mild symptoms and assessed to be of low risk, 5,457 were local transmissions and 614 were imported cases.
A total of 341 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with eight cases in intensive care units.
Three more patients have died from complications due to COVID-19 infection, bringing the death toll to 1,408, the ministry said.
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Vietnam
Vietnam recorded 740 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, down by 148 from Wednesday, according to its Ministry of Health.
All the new infections were domestically transmitted in 37 provinces and cities.
The Vietnamese capital Hanoi was the pandemic hotspot with 154 new cases recorded on Thursday, followed by the northern Bac Ninh province with 54 and the central Nghe An province with 51.
The infections brought the total tally to 10,740,595 with 43,084 deaths. Nationwide, 9,627,924 COVID-19 patients, or nearly 90 percent of the infections, have so far recovered.
Nearly 227.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country, including over 203.5 million shots on people aged 18 and above, said the ministry.