Australia, meanwhile, is stepping up its vaccination rate, with Sydney and Melbourne, its largest cities, and the capital Canberra enduring a weeks-long lockdown to combat the highly infectious Delta variant. The national first-dose rate in the adult population topped 80 per cent on Tuesday morning.
A total of 1,763 new infections were reported in Victoria, exceeding the previous daily high of 1,488 on Saturday, with the state looking to start reopening once full vaccination levels in its adult population reaches 70 per cent, expected around the end of October, from 53 per cent now.
Dominic Perrottet, who was elected as the new premier of New South Wales on Tuesday, said the state was on track to exit lockdown on Oct 11, the first Monday after it expects 70 per cent of its population over 16 to be fully vaccinated.
Daily infections in the state fell to the lowest in seven weeks on Tuesday at 608 new cases, the majority in state capital Sydney, down from 623 on Monday. Seven new deaths were recorded.
Even with the Delta outbreaks, Australia still has relatively low coronavirus numbers, with around 115,800 cases. Total deaths stood at 1,357, with the mortality rate from the current Delta outbreak lower than during last year due to higher inoculation among the vulnerable population.
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