Good morning. Aged care Covid deaths soar in Australia, Muslim Australians abandon Labor in key marginals and the US pledges Nato cooperation with Finland and Sweden.
Covid deaths inside aged care facilities are occurring at rates unseen during the first two years of the pandemic, as government data reveals at least 60 people are dying a week, with more than 350 deaths since the start of the election campaign. Aged care works are preparing to strike tomorrow, citing frustration about low pay, heightened workforce pressures and workload. Scott Morrison has described every death as a “terrible loss” but explained that the high number of deaths is due to people dying “with Covid” but not necessarily “because of Covid”. Anthony Albanese flagged a new national strategy to reduce the deaths if Labor wins the election. Virologists, meanwhile, have accused both Labor and the Liberals of failing to address slowing booster uptake rates amid a creeping “complacency” in pandemic planning.
