CANBERRA, Sept 17 (NNN-XINHUA) – Australia’s COVID-19 response saved tens of thousands of lives, the government claimed.
According to data released by the federal government, Australia has the second-lowest COVID-19 death rate in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with 0.75 deaths per 100,000 people.
By comparison, the death rate between Feb 24 and Sept 14 was 93 per 100,000 in the United States and 89.4 in Britain.
Only New Zealand bettered Australia among OECD members.
Health Minister, Greg Hunt, said that, even amid the country’s biggest wave of infections, Australians have been protected from the worst of the pandemic.
“The fact that we have the second-lowest per capita levels of lives lost means that, tens of thousands of lives were saved not just last year, but this year as well,” he said.
“The focus on aged care, both workers and residents, meant, there are dramatically different human outcome from the Sydney outbreak this year, as opposed to the Victorian outbreak last year.”
According to the Department of Health, as of yesterday, there had been 1,128 COVID-19 deaths in Australia, 909 of which were in 2020.
Australia reported 1,825 new locally-acquired COVID-19 infections this morning, among which 1,284 were in New South Wales.
The Australian Capital Territory recorded 30 new cases, its second most on any day, since the start of the pandemic.
Canberra’s lockdown, which started on Aug 12, was due to end today, but was extended until Oct 15.
