Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday batted away COVID-19 worries three days ahead of federal elections, saying that many reported deaths are not caused by the virus alone and promising not to interfere in people’s lives.
Australia reported 66 COVID-19-related deaths and more than 53,000 infections in the previous 24 hours.
“What you see when you have case numbers at that level is that people, when they pass away for many other causes, that they will die with COVID,” Morrison said. “And the deaths are recorded as COVID deaths, but that does not necessarily mean ... that they passed away because of COVID. That’s a very different proposition.”
Photo: AFP
Australia reports a COVID-19 death for anyone who has a confirmed or probable infection with the virus when they die, unless there is a “clear alternative” cause of death.
“We’re living with COVID,” Morrison said. “We’re not going back to those daily press conferences of people talking about COVID every day, and putting the threat of shutdowns and lockdowns and interfering in people’s lives again.”
“That’s not what I am going to do if I am re-elected on Saturday,” Morrison told reporters. “I am not going to drag Australia back into those times again.”
Opposition Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese, whose party is slightly ahead in the opinion polls despite a recent tightening in the race, said that the pandemic remained a risk.
“We need to step up the national strategy. We need look at not just the number of deaths, but also the number of people who are in hospital, and the number of infections,” Albanese said.
More than 95 percent of people over the age of 16 are fully vaccinated in Australia, which the opposition leader said had helped to reduce the impact of the disease.
However, “it’s still a major issue,” Albanese told the National Press Club in Canberra.
Morrison is widely credited with spending huge sums to protect jobs and the economy during the pandemic.
However, the prime minister has been criticized by the opposition for a sluggish rollout of vaccines and self-administered rapid antigen tests.
Australia has announced an agreement with the tiny Pacific nation Nauru enabling it to send hundreds of immigrants to the barren island. The deal affects more than 220 immigrants in Australia, including some convicted of serious crimes. Australian Minister of Home Affairs Tony Burke signed the memorandum of understanding on a visit to Nauru, the government said in a statement on Friday. “It contains undertakings for the proper treatment and long-term residence of people who have no legal right to stay in Australia, to be received in Nauru,” it said. “Australia will provide funding to underpin this arrangement and support Nauru’s long-term economic
ANGER: Unrest worsened after a taxi driver was killed by a police vehicle on Thursday, as protesters set alight government buildings across the nation Protests worsened overnight across major cities of Indonesia, far beyond the capital, Jakarta, as demonstrators defied Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s call for calm. The most serious unrest was seen in the eastern city of Makassar, while protests also unfolded in Bandung, Surabaya, Solo and Yogyakarta. By yesterday morning, crowds had dispersed in Jakarta. Troops patrolled the streets with tactical vehicles and helped civilians clear trash, although smoke was still rising in various protest sites. Three people died and five were injured in Makassar when protesters set fire to the regional parliament building during a plenary session on Friday evening, according to
‘NEO-NAZIS’: A minister described the rally as ‘spreading hate’ and ‘dividing our communities,’ adding that it had been organized and promoted by far-right groups Thousands of Australians joined anti-immigration rallies across the country yesterday that the center-left government condemned, saying they sought to spread hate and were linked to neo-Nazis. “March for Australia” rallies against immigration were held in Sydney, and other state capitals and regional centers, according to the group’s Web site. “Mass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together,” the Web site said. The group posted on X on Saturday that the rallies aimed to do “what the mainstream politicians never have the courage to do: demand an end to mass immigration.” The group also said it was concerned about culture,
CRACKDOWN: The Indonesian president vowed to clamp down on ‘treason and terrorism,’ while acceding to some protest demands to revoke lawmaker benefits Protests in Indonesia over rising living costs and inequality intensified overnight, prompting Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to cancel a planned trip to China, while demonstrators reportedly targeted the homes of the finance minister and several lawmakers. Rioters entered Indonesian Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati’s residence near Jakarta early yesterday, but were repelled by armed forces personnel, Kompas reported. Items were taken from the homes of lawmaker Ahmad Sahroni and two others, according to Detik.com. The reports of looting could not be independently verified, and the finance ministry has not responded to requests for comment. The protests were sparked by outrage over
RSS