CANBERRA (BLOOMBERG) - The remote Outback town of Alice Springs has become the latest Australian region to enter a lockdown as the delta variant spreads across the continent, sparking criticism of the government's tardy vaccine rollout.
The outbreak in the town of about 25,000 people in the centre of Australia, believed to have emerged from a mining site, is raising fears that the nation's vulnerable indigenous population is now facing its greatest threat from the pandemic.
"I know it is sudden and shocking - I am sorry about that, but we cannot afford to wait a minute longer," Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner told reporters on Wednesday (June 30) while announcing the 72-hour snap lockdown.
He urged indigenous communities to remain calm, saying they would be supplied with groceries and medicines.
Since the weekend, more than 12 million Australians have been ordered to stay at home in cities continent-wide, including the state capitals of Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.
New South Wales on Wednesday recorded 22 new local cases from the day before as it strives to overcome the nation's most serious outbreak in Sydney. South Australia state announced it won't immediately enter a lockdown, despite five new cases also linked to the Outback mine site.
The new lockdown order in Alice Springs will increase criticism of Prime Minister Scott Morrison government's vaccine roll-out, with some health authorities and political rivals saying it's been too slow and disorganised, and could potentially lead to more lockdowns such as those currently impacting half the population.
"The messaging has really been mixed and I think Australians don't know which way is up when it comes to the vaccine programme," president of the Australian Medical Authority, Mr Omar Khorsid, said in an interview on the national broadcaster on Wednesday (June 30).
He urged more advertising funding to overcome vaccine hesitancy, adding: "It is effectively like a war, so he let's take that war-footing."
Criticism of the government's vaccine roll-out comes after Brisbane on Tuesday joined other regional capitals Sydney, Perth and Darwin in placing stay-at-home orders on more than 12 million Australians, as authorities battle to contain a spread of the Delta variant.
"Our road map out of this is about progressively opening up" through ramping up the roll-out, Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt told Sky News on Wednesday. He defended messaging around the nation's vaccination programme, saying the government had a "focus on safety".
The snap lockdowns show the limits of Australia's so-called "Covid-zero" strategy, which has relied on closed international borders and rigorous testing to eliminate community transmission of the virus.
While nations such as the United Kingdom and United States are preparing to open up their economies after widespread vaccinations, a slow roll-out in Australia means the economy, and particularly domestic tourism, remains vulnerable.
The government's vaccination programme has been hit by supply-chain holdups from contracted drugmakers, and confused messaging from authorities about the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been linked to rare blood clots.
Meanwhile, the Delta variant is increasingly leaking out of the nation's hotels being used for quarantine, with the current outbreaks also linked to mining workers and airline crew who have traveled around the nation.
While there are signs that the latest lockdowns may have sparked a surge in people getting jabbed, the latest vaccine tracker data still shows Australia lagging.
The country of more than 25 million people has administered shots to cover just 14.7 per cent of its population, according to Bloomberg's vaccine tracker, compared with the US at almost 51 per cent and the UK at nearly 58 per cent.
In a bid to ramp up vaccinations, Mr Morrison announced after an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet on Monday that the AstraZeneca vaccine would be available to people aged under 40, following consultation with their general practitioner.
Previous advice was that the jab - which comprises the bulk of the nation's supplies - should only be given to Australians aged 60 and above.
On Wednesday, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk took aim at Mr Morrison's announcement on Monday, saying it was not in line with official advice from the official Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.
"There has been no National Cabinet decision about providing AstraZeneca to the under-40s," she told reporters.
Some state leaders are also pushing for urgent changes to the nation's quarantine system, saying it is allowing too many non-Australian residents to enter the nation, sometimes with infections, even though the borders have been closed to most since March last year.
The Labour opposition, which had a two-point lead over the government in a Newspoll published on Monday ahead of elections due by May, is attacking the government's vaccine policy, saying the programme was too slow to start and relied too heavily on AstraZeneca contracts.
"We've got a prime minister who spends all of his time trying to avoid responsibility rather than take responsibility," Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers said in an Australian Broadcasting Corp interview on Tuesday. "That's why Australia is hopelessly behind when it comes to the vaccine roll-out."
