Skyrocketing UK cases show what Australia must try to…

Skyrocketing UK cases show what Australia must try to avoid

BORIS JOHNSON: Easy to say, harder to do, with the UK topping 50,000 cases daily. Picture: UK government

IT'S been a grim week, coronavirus-wise, for the two Anglosphere nations with which we are most closely tied, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

In America, the death of former secretary of state Colin Powell from the complications of COVID-19 has shaken that country in the way that only the death of a well-known person can. Powell was 84 years old and had the blood marrow cancer multiple myeloma.

But he was also fully vaccinated.

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So, in perhaps the global home of vaccine scepticism, authorities have stepped up their efforts to explain the existence of "breakthrough infections", and to show that vaccination is still the only viable defence against a virus that has now officially taken 4.9 million lives, including more than 200,000 in the past 28 days alone.

The basis of the US message is that the unvaccinated are 11 times more likely to die from COVID than the vaccinated.

In the UK, never-say-die British prime minister Boris Johnson is again at the centre of a storm, with COVID rising steadily to breach the 50,000 a day mark for the first time in three months.

And this is a country where booster vaccines are already rolling out.

LIKELY LEVELLING: COVID cases and deaths have been dropping since the latest peak at the end of August, but the rate of decline has slowed. Even so, the last seven days saw 2.8 million cases and 46,000 COVID-related deaths. Picture: Johns Hopkins University

The British Medical Association says case numbers are "unacceptable" and wants the government to adopt its official "Plan B", which with vaccine passports, work from home encouraged and compulsory face-masks in some settings looks more or less like the regime of restrictions being used here in Australia.

UK deaths have risen to 136 a day over the past week, and while that figure is a shadow of the January peak of 1820 in 24 hours, the continued shortages of hospital emergency and ward beds are signs of Britain's much-vaunted National Health System under enormous pressure.

The turmoil elsewhere only reinforces Australia's good fortune.

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But with barriers coming down around the world, and with international travel just over the horizon, another rise in NSW cases would not surprise.

Indeed, the official "reopening" modelling anticipates such situations.

A society-wide shift toward "living with COVID" puts the onus on the individual to ensure that they and their families are protected.

The vaccines are not perfect, but an 11-times advantage over going unvaccinated is a substantial protection to say "no" to.

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