MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australians celebrated Easter Sunday in a relatively unrestricted manner, as the country did not report any new local coronavirus cases.
Queensland, the center of a recent, small-scale COVID-19 outbreak in the community, has had just one infection in the past three days. The state has the strictest restrictions on public gatherings.
Elsewhere, Australians flocked to the beaches and took advantage of the hot weather in many parts of the country, or reunited with families, in stark contrast to last year’s Easter when a nationwide lockout confined people to their homes.
While many countries were curtailing new closures or services for the great Christian holiday to prevent the spread of the third wave of coronavirus, churches in Australia were open, and many attended services during the four-day weekend.
Christianity is the dominant religion in Australia, with 12 million people, and 86% of religious Australians identifying themselves as Christians, according to the 2016 census.
Australia was one of the world’s most successful countries in curbing the pandemic, with snap lockdown, border closure and rapid detection limiting coronavirus infections to just over 29,300 infections, with 909 COVID-19 deaths.
However, the country had much less, with its vaccination, missed a March target of about 3.3 million doses when states and the federal government quarreled over the debt.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Sunday that the country was on track to give a first dose of the vaccine to all Australians who wanted it by October.
“As the supply of sovereign vaccines increased, so did the rollout,” he said.
CSL Ltd. began production of 50 million doses of Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine in Melbourne in March, and most Australians are expected to get the chance.
Reporting by Lidia Kelly; Edited by William Mallard