The Australian government has had the most rigorous approach to suppressing the corona virus epidemic in the world. Thus, since March 2020, the entire continent has been completely locked down on several occasions. A covid "0" strategy was applied, which meant complete isolation whenever an epicenter of infection appeared. Nothing worked, people did not go to work, it was not possible to go from one federal state to another. Many have not seen their families for almost two years. Australia was isolated from the rest of the world. There was talk of mass "depression" and "despair."
Even the smallest clusters of infection would also be immediately completely isolated, so Melbourne, for example, was "locked" as many as six times. In the state of Victoria, the longest lockdown in the world ended only on October 21 last year: it lasted 262 days, until over 70 percent of the population over the age of 16 was vaccinated.
During the lockdown, home visits, schools, hairdressers, restaurants - everything was closed. People were only allowed to go out on the street to do the most basic things.
And after all, in the past seven days with the spread of Omicron, Australia recorded an average of about 70 new infections per day. Despite its large area, the country has just over 25 and a half million inhabitants.
Although many criticized the permanent lockdown policy, it brought good epidemiological results: by mid-December last year, Australia had recorded around 260 infections since the beginning of the pandemic, with just over two thousand deaths.
The situation began to deteriorate with the appearance of the omicron strain of the virus, so it seemed that a new lockdown would occur. At the end of December, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Australia will not return to lockdowns and that "life with corona must continue". A new lockdown would probably lead to a revolution, Australians have had enough of everything.
Australia certainly does not have a problem with the response of the population to vaccination - over 90 percent of people over the age of 16 have been vaccinated. Those who are not, and do not have a medical explanation for it, face "locking" for the unvaccinated. The unvaccinated can leave isolation only to go shopping and to the doctor.
The Australian Open will be organized with a reduced presence of the audience and mandatory wearing of protective masks.
After all the pandemic waivers, it's not too surprising that Australians are angry that Novak Djokovic, unvaccinated, wants to participate in the tournament, which is fueled by constant media coverage of doubts about the validity of his "medical exemption".
FM/Guardian/BBC/Reuters
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