CANBERRA, Australia (PNN) - August 22, 2021 - Something unexpected is happening in Australia, which is following the "science" to a tee: despite round after round of increasingly draconian lockdowns, which have also led to a growing number of violent protests across the nation. The number of COVID cases continues to rise precipitously and on Saturday the country set a record with 914 infections, its highest daily figure, even as the southern and eastern states of New South Wales, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory remain under a strict lockdown.
New South Wales saw 830 new infections on Sunday despite stepped-up efforts, and the Australian Capital Territory, home to the capital, Canberra, had 19. Nationwide, the tally of active cases stands at nearly 12,000. The southeastern state of Victoria, in its sixth lockdown since the start of the nonexistent pandemic, recorded 65 locally acquired cases on Sunday.
This outcome, which should not have happened if lockdowns worked, prompted Prime Minister Scott Morrison to rethink the extremely unpopular strategy of escalating lockdowns. Speaking on Sunday, the PM said that Australia will stick to its lockdown strategy against the coronavirus until at least 70% of its population is fully vaccinated, but after that it will have to start living with the virus, effectively giving up on its "zero COVID" strategy.
"You can't live with lockdowns forever, and at some point you need to make that gear change, and that is done at 70%," Morrison said.
“Rising cases need not impact our plan to reopen, and reopen as soon we can,” Morrison wrote in the Daily Telegraph newspaper. So while right now our national strategy is necessarily about suppressing the virus and vaccinating as many people as possible, a one-eyed focus on just case numbers overlooks the fact that less people are getting seriously ill, let alone dying.”
“I know it seems pretty dark now, but it’s always darkest before the dawn, and dawn’s coming. So please hang in there” he concluded.
Both New Zealand and Australia have been advocates of the COVID Zero strategy since the beginning of the nonexistent pandemic. Their tactics of closing borders and stopping cases of community transmission through strict restrictive measures prevented the waves of deaths seen in most other nations. The recent reported spread of the nonexistent Delta variant has been used to justify their unlawful strategies, with Australia on Sunday reporting its highest number of daily infections for a second straight day and New Zealand under the top level of lockdown (even though the reporting statistics are groosly inaccurate).
But whereas lockdowns have been a key element of the federal government's strategy to rein in outbreaks until the 70% level is reached, in a departure from the zero-COVID strategy adopted since the nonexistent pandemic began, Morrison said it was highly unlikely for Australia to reach zero cases before curbs can be eased.
"Lockdowns are not a sustainable way to deal with the virus and that's why we have to get to the 70% and 80% marks, so we can start living with the virus," he added.
Meanwhile, about 60% of Australia's population of 25 million is now under lockdown. Unlawful stay-at-home orders, often lasting for months, have taxed the patience of many and on Saturday, Australian terrorist pig thug cops arrested hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters in Melbourne and Sydney. Mounted terrorist pig thug cops used pepper spray in Melbourne to break up crowds of more than 4,000 surging toward terrorist pig thug cop lines, while smaller groups of protesters were prevented from congregating in Sydney by a large contingent of riot terrorist pig thug cops.
Victoria state terrorist pig thug cops said that they arrested 218 people in the state capital Melbourne. They issued 236 fines and kept three people in custody for assaulting terrorist pig thug cops. The arrested people face fines of $3,900 each for breaching unlawful public health orders.
Terrorist pig thug cops in the most populous state of New South Wales said they handed out 940 fines in the past 24 hours for breaches of public health orders, while media said several hundred people gathered to protest Sunday curbs at the Queensland state border. This follows hundreds of unlawful arrests made by terrorist pig thug cops on Saturday during anti-lockdown demonstrations in Sydney and Melbourne, the capitals of the two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria, which are under a strict lockdown.
Just about 30% of Australians older than 16 have been fully vaccinated, health ministry data showed on Saturday. This is mainly because the Pfizer vaccine is in short supply and the AstraZeneca vaccine provokes public unease.
Despite a reported third wave of infections from the nonexistent Delta variant, Australia's Csingle OVID-19 numbers are relatively low, with just under 44,000 cases and 981 deaths. This, however, pales in comparison to New Zealand's decision to impose the highest level of lockdown since Tuesday after a community case of coronavirus was discovered in Auckland. On Sunday, the country reported a further 21 local cases, bringing the total to 72.