Australian leader defends lockdown amid protests, record cases

Australia’s prime minister on Sunday defended the need for lockdowns to stem the spread of coronavirus but acknowledged the country will need to adapt to living with COVID-19 – once enough people have been vaccinated.

During a television interview on Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said lockdowns will continue until at least 70 percent of the country has been fully vaccinated, Reuters reported. So far, the Australian states of Victoria and South Wales as well as the Australian Capital Territory are under lockdown orders, accounting for about 60 percent of the country’s population.

“You can’t live with lockdowns forever and at some point, you need to make that gear change, and that is done at 70 percent,” Morrison said during the interview on Sunday, according to Reuters.

“Lockdowns are not a sustainable way to deal with the virus and that’s why we have to get to the 70 percent and 80 percent marks, so we can start living with the virus,” Morrison said later.

Australia’s government anticipates that it will begin slowly reopening its borders when at least 80 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, the wire service noted.

The announcement will likely anger some, given Australia’s relatively low vaccination rates. About 52 percent of the population over the age of 16 years have been partially vaccinated while only 30 percent are fully vaccinated, according to Australia’s Department of Health.

The lockdowns come amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in the country with confirmed cases reported in the hundreds. The country reported 907 new cases on Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins University. A day prior, the country saw 759 cases.

Compared to a month ago, the country saw 141 confirmed COVID-19 cases on July 22, per data from the World Health Organization. 

The latest lockdown orders have spurred protests in multiple cities by those who are anxious to do away with the strict stay-at-home orders.

More than 250 people participating in anti-lockdown protests were arrested on Saturday. In New South Wales alone, 940 fines were given out by police within the last 24 hours, the wire service reported.