Australia's COVID-19 case numbers continue to rise

CANBERRA: Australia has reported its highest number of new coronavirus infections in about a month.

More than 57,000 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded across Australia on Wednesday with 51 deaths -- 17 in Victoria, 11 in New South Wales, 10 in Queensland, eight in South Australia, three in Western Australia and two in the Australian Capital Territory, reported Xinhua.

It marks the biggest number of new cases reported in a day since early April and takes Australia's coronavirus death toll past 7,600.

According to data from the Department of Health, there were 3,168 cases being treated in hospitals around the country as of Tuesday, including 123 in intensive care units.

South Australia has opened four clinics to treat people suffering from the long-term effects of COVID-19.

The long COVID-19 clinics, which are based across Adelaide, are designed to treat patients still experiencing fatigue, body aches, shortness of breath, or brain fog more than 12 weeks after testing positive for the virus.

Renjy Nelson, an infectious diseases consultant who helped establish the clinics, said South Australia started working on a long COVID-19 plan in 2020 after some of Australia's first cases reported symptoms six months after infection.

"Long COVID-19 is certainly an entity we need to be aware of," he said, according to The Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"We know there are over two to three million people around the world who are suffering from long COVID-19.

"We commonly see people with breathlessness -- people who are high achievers who were very fit prior to this now finding themselves not able to climb a flight of stairs."

-- BERNAMA