Australian authorities expressed “deep concern” on Tuesday after verifying an outbreak of COVID-19 in Indigenous communities, which will be particularly sensitive to the coronavirus.

After a delta case of Covid appeared, in mid-June in Sydney, the epidemic recently spread to the west of the state of New South Wales, the area where most of the 116 people were infected with this type. They are indigenous.

The chief minister of the state (which includes the cities of Sydney and Canberra, and local and country capitals, respectively), Gladys Berejiklian, said the pandemic was “extremely concerning” because this region, which is part of the huge Australian “outback”, has been placed under confinement to try to stop the infection. .

This is the first major epidemic in geographically isolated Indigenous communities that will be most vulnerable to infection with covid-19.

Australia’s health minister, Greg Hunt, said at least five military medical teams will be deployed to the area from Wednesday to assist local officials with the vaccination campaign.

Only 15% of the country’s indigenous population has been fully vaccinated. That rate is lower in remote areas, barely 8%, according to authorities.

However, this part of the population was considered a priority for vaccination when the first doses were vaccinated in late February.

When the Conservative government was asked about the slow pace of vaccinating the Aboriginal community, it replied that some of these people felt protected who lived in secluded areas, so they did not feel the need to be vaccinated.

hr / djw / leg / juf / lch / age / zm