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Why has Australia's Covid strategy faltered?

Australia went from global success story to outbreaks and lockdowns. What happened?

Australia has been seen as a success story when it comes to controlling the spread of the coronavirus and was praised by US official Dr Anthony Fauci as being a world leader in “containment and management of emerging variants”. The country had zero deaths from locally acquired Covid-19 infections during the first half of 2021 and has seen fewer than 1,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic. But a new outbreak of the Delta variant has thrown Sydney into lockdown and cases continue to rise, prompting other states to accuse New South Wales of not locking down fast enough or hard enough. The national government in Canberra has been criticised for one of the slowest vaccine rollouts among industrialised countries and reports of rare blood clots linked to the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab have left many confused as to which age groups should take it. So what went wrong with Australia's 'gold standard' response to Covid-19? As anti-lockdown protesters take to the streets, why is the policy failing to bring down cases in Sydney? Has Delta changed the game and could vaccine hesitancy delay any return to normal? Ritula Shah is joined by a panel of expert guests.

Available now

49 minutes

Last on

Sat 31 Jul 2021 03:06GMT

Contributors

Mary-Louise McLaws - Epidemiologist at the University of New South Wales

Catherine Bennett - Inaugural chair in Epidemiology at Deakin University in Victoria

Bill Bowtell - A strategic policy adviser who helped lead Australia's response to the HIV epidemic

Also featuring ...

Jim Reed - Founder of strategy consultancy Resolve

Picture

A public health sign on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. Credit: Brook Mitchell / Getty Images

Broadcasts

  • Fri 30 Jul 2021 09:06GMT
  • Fri 30 Jul 2021 23:06GMT
  • Sat 31 Jul 2021 03:06GMT

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