Sydney, Australia
Reuters
Australia on Monday recorded its biggest one-day rise in COVID-19 deaths, though the state at the epicentre of the country’s outbreak said the number of new infections held steady.
Victoria state said 25 people had died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, more than the previous worst daily toll of 21 reported nationally on 12th August.
Police officers in protective face masks patrol a street in Melbourne after it became the first city in Australia to enforce mask-wearing in public as part of efforts to curb a resurgence of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on 23rd July. PICTURE: Reuters/Sandra Sanders/File photo.
Authorities in the south-eastern state said 282 new COVID-19 cases had been detected, about the same as the 279 cases reported on Sunday.
Those numbers are well below the peak of more than 700 daily cases in Victoria earlier this month and health officials are confident strict lockdown measures are working to contain the virus.
Australia has reported 23,500 COVID-19 cases and 421 deaths, far fewer than many other developed nations.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Prime Minister postponed the country’s general election on Monday by a month to 17th October as the city of Auckland remains in lockdown due to a new outbreak of the coronavirus.
Jacinda Ardern has been under pressure to put off the polls as political parties said it was impossible to campaign in a way that would ensure a free and fair election.
“Ultimately, the 17th of October…provides sufficient time for parties to plan around the range of circumstances we will be campaigning under,” Ardern said at a news conference.
She ruled out delaying the polls any further, as her Labour Party maintains a strong lead over the conservative National Party in opinion polls.
“We are all in the same boat. We are all campaigning in the same environment,” Ardern said.
An early election works in Ardern’s favour, as her success in stifling COVID-19 and keeping the country virus-free for 102 days until the latest outbreak has boosted her popularity.
The election was scheduled for 19th September and New Zealand law requires it to be held by 21st November. Advance voting will now start on 3rd October.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, who had called for a delay, said “common sense has prevailed”.
The leader of the populist New Zealand First party delivered government to Labour through a coalition deal after no party won a majority at the 2017 election.
Ardern’s opponents accuse her of using the pandemic to shore up support as she appears on television nearly every day to reassure New Zealanders, while other party leaders struggle to get attention.
Her rivals are hoping Ardern loses some of her appeal once economic hardships caused by the lockdown begin to bite.
With a population of five million people, New Zealand has fared far better than most countries during the pandemic. But an abrupt resurgence of COVID-19 last week in Auckland prompted a lockdown, and there’s growing suspicion that the source of the spread was a quarantine facility.
On Friday, Ardern extended a lockdown for Auckland’s 1.7 million residents until 26th August, and social distancing rules are in place in other towns and cities. There are 69 active cases in the country.
“Right now the focus must be on finding out exactly what failed so catastrophically at the border so we can be sure it won’t happen again,” National Party leader Judith Collins said on Twitter.
