Sydney, 6 January 2022 (TDI): Australia witnessed a sharp surge in COVID-19 cases in the new year. This was caused by the new highly infectious omicron variant with record cases recorded today.
The rise in COVID-19 cases has caused a major strain on businesses in addition to the supply of goods and COVID-19 PCR test kits. 72,392 cases were reported today whereas 64,774 from the day before were reported, with the majority of these originating in New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria.
The number of people admitted to hospitals in these two states grew by 10% between January 4th and 5th, with a further increase predicted and many experts believing the worst is yet to come.
“We have got some challenging weeks ahead of us.” -New South Wales Deputy Health Secretary Susan Pearce.
The sudden increase in COVID-19 cases has caused pharmacies to run out of the Rapid Antigen Test Kits as authorities urged citizens to use the PCR test if they felt symptomatic.
While the New South Wales government advised businesses not to ask their employees to take a COVID test if they had been exposed and felt asymptomatic.
To ease the strain on essential services, authorities have reduced the quarantine time for asymptomatic individuals and relaxed testing requirements.
“There are no magic solutions, full stop. And so, this virus will continue to challenge us, and it’s important that we all remain calm.” -Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison
Over 50% of the truckers of Australia are isolated as per quarantine conditions, which has severely halted the provision of certain goods. This has imposed “significant pressure” on the supply chains of the country, according to Australia’s transport workers union.
This as a result has caused some supermarkets such as Coles, to impose a purchasing limit on meat products because of the delay in the stock deliveries.
