Sydney residents today celebrate the end of an anti-Covid lockdown that lasted 106 days, almost four months.
Since midnight on Monday, pubs, restaurants and bars have reopened their doors to all those who can prove they are vaccinated and the more than five million residents of the capital of New South Wales have returned to normal life thanks to a vaccination rate of over 70% among the over 16s.
The coronavirus, however, has not yet been defeated in the state, which in the last 24 hours has registered 496 cases of contagion and despite the festive air, fears of a possible new worsening of the situation remain.
At the same time, Australia's international borders are temporarily reopening to the entry of 2,000 qualified foreign doctors and nurses, to deal with a looming crisis of health personnel, especially in hospitals in regional areas.
With the Sydney and Melbourne hospitals close to Covid 19 patient capacity, the reinforcements of healthcare personnel arriving in the next six months will be mainly assigned to suburban, regional hospitals and doctors' offices.
