Australia COVID-19 cases rise but vaccination surge gives hope - Reuters

Health workers provide coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing and vaccinations to residents of surrounding public housing towers in the Redfern suburb, where authorities are working to contain an emerging cluster of cases, as a widespread lockdown continues in Sydney, Australia, September 16, 2021.

SYDNEY, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Australia's Victoria state reported its biggest one-day rise in COVID-19 cases of the year on Thursday as a surge in vaccinations nationwide raised hope for easing restrictions with almost 70% of the adult population having had a first dose.

Still, Australia's coronavirus infection rates are far lower than those in many other countries, with some 80,000 cases and 1,128 deaths, and authorities are promising to relax many tough curbs, perhaps next month, after more people get both of their vaccine shots.

Officials in New South Wales, at the heart of the country's worst coronavirus outbreak, implored its residents to get their shots soon as they reported 12 new deaths from the virus, with 10 of them people who were not vaccinated.