Australia's Covid Zero Strategy Hits a Wall - Bloomberg

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Australia's strategy hits a wall

While the U.S. and U.K. plow headlong into reopening, across the other side of the world half of Australia’s population is back in lockdown.

The country’s ‘Covid Zero’ approach to containing the virus—once the gold standard, with its aim of keeping out all cases via mandatory hotel quarantines and travel bans—seems to have reached its limit as the highly contagious delta strain slips through fortified international borders, seeding infections in the once envied, once largely virus-free haven.

Sydney’s lockdown is the strictest since the pandemic began and looks set to be extended, with the total number of Covid cases since mid-June creeping toward 2,000. The economy is bleeding over A$2 billion ($1.5 billion) a week after construction sites were shut down on top of the near complete closure of the hospitality and tourism industries. Meanwhile, Melbourne has entered its fifth snap lockdown, after a case from Sydney spawned a cluster.

The George Street promenade on a usually busy late afternoon in Sydney.

Photographer: STEVEN SAPHORE/AFP

Delta has backed Australia, with its existing playbook, into a corner. Lulled by long stretches without Covid deaths, or any locally transmitted cases at all, the government took the view that vaccination wasn’t a race, especially with the virus ravaging other parts of the world.

But delta’s rapid spread here has shown it is very much a race. With less than half the level of vaccine coverage of the U.S., Australia must continue to suppress the virus zealously—and that means lockdowns when even a few cases emerge—or risk overwhelming a hospital system that’s never had to contend with a real onslaught of infections.

Other “Covid Zero” economies, such as Taiwan and Singapore, are facing similar challenges, with the bar for reopening higher than in places where there is more natural immunity and acceptance that the virus is now endemic.

The contrast with parts of the world that prioritized inoculation early on is stark, even as cases—and delta—flare there as well. With enough vaccinations administered to cover about 50% of the European Union’s population, it’s time to “live with the virus,” as one French government minister put it. And despite the highest case tally in the world, the U.K. pushed on with “Freedom Day” as vaccines keep deaths low.

With the rest of the world accepting Covid is here to stay, and reopening anyway, Australia will need to adjust the way it views cases. But first it has to ramp up vaccination, and fast.—Georgina McKay

Track the vaccines

Enough doses have now been administered to fully vaccinate 23.9% of the global population—but the distribution has been lopsided. Countries and regions with the highest incomes are getting vaccinated more than 30 times faster than those with the lowest. We’ve updated our vaccine tracker to allow you to explore vaccine rates vs Covid cases in a number of countries. See the latest here. 

 

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Australia's Covid Zero Strategy Hits a Wall - Bloomberg
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