Most Populous State In Australia To Reimpose COVID-19 Restrictions

Australia’s New South Wales state, where Sydney is located and home of one third of Australia’s 25 million population, will re-impose restrictions including shutting nightclubs and canceling non-urgent surgeries because of record coronavirus contagions according to the Sydney Morning Herald in a report published early Friday.

The news adds that the fresh measures are expected to be approved by the state government’s economic recovery committee on Friday in order to ease pressure on hospitals according to senior government officials.

People admitted to the state’s hospitals with COVID-19 have nearly doubled to a record 1,609 in just over one week.

There were around 150 daily cases in the state in late November, when the first Omicron case was detected. That shot up to 35,000 on Thursday. Neighboring Victoria state a day earlier brought back restrictions that would limit people at pubs and clubs.

The AUD/USD pair remains on the back foot around a two-week low, recently taking rounds to 0.7165 amid early Friday morning in Asia. The pair’s light to none reaction to the news could be due to pre-NFP caution across financial markets.