Australia's vax rollout hitting world class marks: PM

Canberra, Aug 13 (IANS) Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday announced that the country's Covid-19 vaccine rollout was hitting "world class marks" after a troubled start.

As of Friday, 25 per cent of Australian adults have received two coronavirus vaccine doses after a week in which almost 1.5 million doses were administered, reports Xinhua news agency.

"One in four eligible Australians, one in four, are fully vaccinated in this country," Morrison said after meeting with state and territory leaders at National Cabinet.

"It was 11.6 per cent, just one month ago. One million doses in just four days. That is an extraordinarily extraordinary effort... I want to thank all Australians for clearing the path for all of us to go through."

Paul Kelly, the country's Chief Medical Officer (CMO), said in the same press conference on Friday that Australia was "clearly" in the midst of a "third wave" of th pandemic after the initial wave in early 2020 and a second wave in Victoria, the country's second-most populous state, in mid-2020.

"This year, we have seen 10,000 cases now for the whole country and sadly 39 deaths," he said.

"Most of those cases and most of those deaths associated with the New South Wales outbreak which is continuing to be a concern, particularly in Sydney but also in other areas of the state."

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) on Thursday imposed strict restrictions after reporting its first coronavirus case in the community in over 12 months.

It makes Canberra another major Australian city currently subject to a lockdown with strict restrictions also in place in Sydney and Melbourne.

As of Friday, there have been 37,754 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Australia, while the death toll stood at 947, according to the latest figures from the Department of Health.