Sydney, Australia

On Wednesday (July 20), the number of Australians admitted to hospitals with COVID-19 was close to a new record. Over 300,000 cases of highly transmissible new subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 have been reported in the country over the previous seven days. Nearly 50,000 cases were reported on Tuesday (July 19), the highest reported in the past two months. In response, the government urged let employees work from home, advising people to wear masks and urged to get booster doses immediately. The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his Twitter tweeted to ‘protect yourself and protect others,’ the caption read, Reuters reported. 

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As per official data, there are currently 5,300 Australians admitted in hospitals with COVID-19, which is not far from the record of 5,390 patients hospitalised with BA.1 in January. Queensland, Tasmania, and Western Australia have already experienced their greatest pandemic-related numbers. 

Also read | COVID-19: Australia job vacancies doubled since pandemic began

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Recently, the Therapeutic Goods Administration granted a Covid vaccination preliminary approval for infants between the age of 6 to 5 years, saying the vaccine is safe and effective, the prime minister shared this news on Twitter. 

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Also read | 'Shocking' report lists devastation to Australia wildlife

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Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly in conversation with ABC radio said, “We need to do some things differently at least for a short period of time.” He further added, “We know that working from home is a very key component of stopping what we call macro spreading." However, the chief medical officer said that he's not sure about the idea of reinstatement of mask mandates or any other limitations. 

Till now, 95 per cent of adults above the age of 16 have received two doses so far, which has limited Australia’s overall Covid cases to under 9 million and its Covid deaths reported at 10,845, much below than any other nation. However, only 71% of people have had three or more doses. 

(With inputs from agencies)

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