Catherine Bennett, chairman of epidemiology at Deakin University, said that compared with the situation of Christmas in 20021year, Australia is now in a different state, with greater variability of the virus and its spread in the community, while people's immunity is lower. This means that if people who have been diagnosed before are exposed to one or more new strains, they are likely to be infected again.
Adrian Esterman, head of the Department of Biostatistics at the University of South Australia, said there were several reasons for the outbreak, which coincided with the Christmas holiday. "Many people received the last dose of vaccine six months ago, and now the protection is relatively weak." He said, "At the same time, we have little or no public health measures to stop the spread. In the case of new sub-variants, it is indeed a bad decision to cancel the compulsory isolation of infected people. "
Although it is expected that the number of newly confirmed cases will increase, experts believe that this wave of epidemic itself will be "small-scale". Ablard Chagatai, an epidemiologist at the University of New South Wales, said that since it is summer and the vaccination rate is high, the number of cases is unlikely to be too high, but it will definitely increase.
Robert Buyi, an infectious disease and vaccine expert at the University of Sydney, advises people to take common-sense protective measures, such as vaccination, keeping social distance and wearing masks in public places, especially in case of infection. (Intern Jiang Xinke)