An empty street is seen amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Melbourne, Australia, on May 28, 2021. Australia has seen the COVID-19 vaccine doses administered surpass 4 million, almost two months after the government's initial deadline for the target. (Photo by Xue Bai/Xinhua)
CANBERRA, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Australia has seen the COVID-19 vaccine doses administered surpass 4 million, almost two months after the government's initial deadline for the target.
Health Minister Greg Hunt on Friday afternoon hailed a record 124,871 vaccinations in 24 hours. It takes the total number of vaccines administered in Australia since the rollout began in February to 4.03 million.
The Australian government had aimed to have 4 million Australians vaccinated by the end of March.
"Yesterday we had our largest day with over 124,000 doses of vaccine administered across the country," Hunt told reporters. "We want to thank everybody for coming forward. Each person is doing their bit to help protect themselves and to help protect the nation."
Of the 124,871 vaccines administered, more than 41,000 were in Victoria as the state entered its fourth COVID-19 lockdown.
Hunt said the situation in Victoria was "very different" to that when the state was plunged into a 112-day lockdown in July 2020 amid a second wave of infections that caused more than 800 of Australia's 910 COVID-19 deaths.
"The Prime Minister has spoken with the Victorian Acting Premier along the way, and we indicated that if Victoria were to move early, they would have our support. And they have done that, and that's to their credit," he said.
"There are obviously significant events which have led to transmission, but they have moved early," the minister added.
The number of COVID-19 cases linked to a cluster in Melbourne grew to 30 on Friday.
Paul Kelly, Australia's chief medical officer, said all the cases were linked but that the number of exposure sites was concerning.
Victorian authorities have identified more than 10,000 primary and secondary contacts of the confirmed cases.
"We do know that this is a variant of concern, which is more transmissible ... We're watching that carefully and closely. And we just have to wait and see what happens over the coming days in terms of that spread of the virus in Victoria," Kelly said. Enditem
