Reuters reported that Australia’s Victoria state marked a week of triple-digit increases in new coronavirus infections on Sunday, while a community outbreak in neighbouring New South Wales (NSW) has put the state on high alert.
Lead paragraphs
Victoria reported 273 new cases of the coronavirus and another COVID-19 death on Sunday, while NSW had nine cases linked to an outbreak at Sydney pub. Both states account for more than half of Australia’s population of 25 million.
Australia has avoided the high COVID-19 casualty numbers of other nations with swift and strict measures, recording so far just under 10,000 coronavirus cases, or about a sixth of the daily cases seen in the United States in recent days.
But as the country has gradually eased social distancing curbs, a spike in community-transmitted cases led to Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, being put under a fresh six-week lockdown on Thursday.
Market implications
With a national death toll of 108, there is little concern from the markets which still regards Australia as one of the cleaned bills of health amongst developed nations, a positive for AUD.
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