Australia\u2019s two most populous states have their focus on reopening their economies even as infection rates remain relatively high and death tolls continue to climb.<\/p>\n
But the nation\u2019s doctors are calling for caution when easing restrictions on reaching vaccination rates of 70 and 80 per cent under the national recovery plan.<\/p>\n
Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Khorshid says the updated Doherty modelling released late on Friday underlines the need to be cautious when easing restrictions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen implementing the national plan we must be realistic, careful and test each change and the impact of measures before moving to the next phase, given that there are thousands of COVID-19 cases in the community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dr Khorshid said\u00a0the Doherty modelling does not show the impact on hospitals, which are already under extraordinary pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe health system needs to be much better prepared to deal with the growing burden of COVID-19, as well as be able to deliver non-COVID-19 related care,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Doherty Institute, whose modelling the nation\u2019s recovery plan is based on, was asked to undertake additional \u201csensitivity analyses\u201d of the scenarios presented in its initial report.<\/p>\n
It was asked to test the robustness of the recommendation to transition to Phases B and C of the national plan at 70 and 80 per cent vaccination coverage if COVID-19 infection was already established in the community.<\/p>\n
\u2018High levels of vaccination\u2019 not enough<\/p>\n
\u201cThese findings confirm our earlier strategic advice that even high levels of vaccination will not be sufficient to stop COVID-19 in its tracks,\u201d the institute said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The institute\u2019s Professor Jodie McVernon and University of Melbourne\u2019s Professor James McCaw will hold a press conference to further discuss its findings on Monday.<\/p>\n
Victorian Premier\u00a0Dan Andrews released his long-awaited road map\u00a0out of lockdown as the state recorded 507 new cases and another death, bringing its toll from the latest outbreak to 11.<\/p>\n
The road map includes scrapping the nightly curfew once 70 per cent of Victorians are fully vaccinated.<\/p>\n
But substantial changes will not be made until 80 per cent of people are immunised, which is forecast to occur around November 5.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are opening up, no doubt about that, and there will be no turning back,\u201d Mr Andrews told reporters in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you care about nurses, doctors, ambos, cooks and cleaners, everyone in our health system, if they\u2019re important to you, then get vaccinated.\u201d<\/p>\n
NSW reported\u00a01083 new virus cases on Sunday and 13 deaths, bringing its toll to 231 since its Delta variant outbreak began on June 16.<\/p>\n
\u2018Precarious\u2019 situation<\/p>\n
Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced recreation rules will be relaxed for 12 LGAs from Monday and they\u2019ll enjoy extra freedoms, a week after they were granted to the rest of the state.<\/p>\n
These include fully vaccinated adults being able to exercise outdoors with no time limits and gather in groups of five for outdoor recreation within five kilometres from home.<\/p>\n
But the Premier warned the state is still in a \u201cprecarious\u201d situation and case numbers will increase when it reopens at the 70 per cent double vaccination target.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are anticipating our worst weeks in ICU and hospitals will be in October,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The ACT, the third jurisdiction currently under lockdown, reported 17 new virus cases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Australia\u2019s two most populous states have their focus on reopening their economies even as infection rates remain relatively high and death tolls continue to climb. But the nation\u2019s doctors are calling for caution when easing restrictions on reaching vaccination rates of 70 and 80 per cent under the national recovery plan. Australian Medical Association president […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2716,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-breaking-news"],"views":23,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3375"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3375"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3377,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3375\/revisions\/3377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}