One in four eligible Australians fully vaccinated amid COVID-19 lockdown in major cities

Morrison told reporters in Canberra on Friday afternoon that Australia's vaccine rollout was hitting «world class marks» after a troubled start, Xinhua reports.

As of Friday, 25 percent of Australian adults have received two coronavirus vaccine doses after a week in which almost 1.5 million doses were administered.

«One in four eligible Australians, one in four, are fully vaccinated in this country,» Morrison said after meeting with state and territory leaders at National Cabinet.

«It was 11.6 percent, just one month ago,» said the prime minister.

«One million doses in just four days. That is an extraordinarily extraordinary effort... I want to thank all Australians for clearing the path for all of us to go through.»

Paul Kelly, Australia's Chief Medical Officer (CMO), said in the same press conference on Friday that Australia was «clearly» in the midst of a «third wave» of coronavirus infections after the initial wave in early 2020 and a second wave in Victoria, the country's second-most populous state, in mid-2020.

«This year, we have seen 10,000 cases now for the whole country and sadly 39 deaths,» he said.

«Most of those cases and most of those deaths associated with the New South Wales outbreak which is continuing to be a concern, particularly in Sydney but also in other areas of the state.»

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) on Thursday imposed strict restrictions after reporting its first coronavirus case in the community in over 12 months.

Andrew Barr, chief minister of the ACT, announced that the territory would go into lockdown for seven days from 5:00 p.m. local time on Thursday after a man in his 20s tested positive for COVID-19.

It makes Canberra another major Australian city currently subject to a lockdown with strict restrictions also in place in Sydney and Melbourne.

As of Thursday afternoon, there have been 37,754 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia, and the number of locally acquired cases in the previous 24 hours was 375, according to the latest figures from the Department of Health.

On Friday morning, New South Wales (NSW), Australia's most populous state, reported a record high of 390 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19.

Of the locally acquired cases, the source of infection for 250 cases is under investigation. The health department in NSW was notified of two deaths, including a woman in her 40s and a man in his 90s.