Medical body warns of Australia’s COVID-19 ‘restriction fatigue’

Canberra, June 21 (IANS) Australians could be suffering from coronavirus “restriction fatigue”, leading to an uptick in cases, a medical body warned on Sunday.

Tony Bartone, president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), warned that a COVID-19 second wave was a distinct possibility after a spike in cases in Victoria state, reports Xinhua news agency.

There were 19 new cases of COVID-19 in Victoria on Sunday, and the state government re-imposed stricter coronavirus restrictions.

“Clearly the numbers yesterday really warranted swift action,” Bartone told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“Whether it’s restriction fatigue, whether it’s something else, but clearly people have started to disregard those messages and we’re seeing the results in the number of case reports.

“Any continued uptick from here and the risk of a second wave is absolutely a live possibility,” he added.

As of Sunday, there had been 7,461 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia, with 102 deaths.

–IANS

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