Coronavirus lockdowns: ‘Australia is the success story that turned very sour’
The world’s media has reacted to Australia’s latest string of lockdowns and restrictions as most other developed countries lift Covid bans.
Coronavirus
Don't miss out on the headlines from Coronavirus. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A year ago, Australia was “celebrated for its initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic” and became the envy of a largely coronavirus-ravaged world with its almost non-existent infection rates.
As the death toll - now almost four million globally - mounted and morgue trucks became a familiar sight on the streets of places like New York City, it quickly became clear that Australia had slammed its borders shut just in the nick of time.
Dr Anthony Fauci, of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, later praised Australia for being a world leader on “containment and management of emerging variants”.
But, just over one year on, many of the countries initially hardest hit by the pandemic are now coming out the other side of it, while a wave of new outbreaks in Australia plunges several of its cities into lockdown for the first time since the pandemic started.
Millions of Sydney residents are back under stay-at-home orders with restaurants, bars and cafes shuttered for two weeks. Darwin, Perth and the Peel Region of Western Australia have also entered snap lockdowns and a raft of restrictions are also in place across Queensland and South Australia.
International news outlets have reacted to the lockdowns, citing Australia’s “slow vaccination rollout” as the root of the problem.
“Sydney in lockdown, borders shut, and hardly anyone vaccinated,” a CNN headline screamed on Monday.
“How long can Australia go on like this?”
Australia has fully vaccinated just over four per cent of its population, compared with more than 46 per cent in the US and 47 per cent in the UK, according to Our World in Data.
Australia has been broadly successful in containing virus clusters, but is now battling flare-ups of the highly contagious Delta variant in multiple cities.
“The Delta variant is presenting very different challenges from those we have faced in the past,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters after a National Cabinet meeting on Monday.
Australian expat Chris McCormack, who lives in New York - where almost all restrictions have now been lifted and lockdowns are a thing of the past - said “Australia is the success story that turned very sour”.
“It’s an embarrassment on the international stage,” he said of the country’s handling of the vaccine rollout and recurring lockdowns.
The Wall Street Journal described Sydney’s outbreak was “small by global standards” but “reflects rising concern among officials” over the Delta Covid variant.
The BBC reported Sydney was “battling to contain an outbreak” and it had “also fuelled criticism over the federal government’s slow vaccination rollout”.
“Vaccine hesitancy has also been a problem,” the BBC reported.
According to American news wire agency the Associated Press, Australia had been “relatively successful in containing coronavirus clusters” but was now finding the Delta strain “more challenging”.
“The nation’s vaccine rollout has been slower than in many other developed countries,” it also reported.
The Washington Post reported that authorities and experts were “especially troubled” by how easily the Delta strain had spread in Sydney.
Australia has recorded a total of just over 30,000 cases and 910 deaths in a population of about 25 million since the pandemic began.
More Coverage
Join the conversation
State’s big move on cutting-edge vaccines
One Aussie state has revealed its next move on a major vaccine development project – which promises to change the way it responds to future health challenges.
Read more
$1.1m plan to overhaul Long Covid, chronic fatigue care
Guidelines to treat the 750,000-plus Australians who have Long Covid and chronic fatigue syndrome are more than two decades old. See the plan to fix them.
Read more