Brisbane lockdown ends ahead of Easter

Special Desk

With just one Covid-19 case reported Australian city of Brisbane exited its snap three-day lockdown. Australia has till now administered about 7 lakh vaccines for a population of 25 million.

The outbreak in Queensland’s capital – home to two million residents – has grown to 16 infections in total. State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the low number of new infections meant the lockdown could be lifted in time for the Easter holiday weekend.

However some restrictions will still apply including mask-wearing in indoor areas. Gathering numbers are also limited to 30 people in a household, while church services will be able to operate at full capacity if people remain seated and have tickets.

“This is really important that we are doing this for the next two weeks because we are not out of the woods yet,” said Palaszczuk. In Australia – where infections are very low – snap lockdowns have proved to be an effective health measure to help suppress outbreaks early on. But the unpredictable shutdowns have also left an economic toll, experts say.

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The government began its vaccination programme in February, but fell 85% short of its delivery target for the end of March. Australia has reported 909 deaths and about 29,300 cases in all.

State governments have fought back, raising concerns about future supplies. The whole issue has been jolted into urgency by Brisbane’s outbreak, with questions over why two health workers in the latest clusters had not been vaccinated.